EU member states have failed to reach a final compromise on the package of measures aimed at overhauling trade defence instrument legislation to accommodate for the planned end of the analogue country methodology currently applied to China. Member states had hoped to so by Sunday 11 December 2016, the expiry date, …
EU FTAs & bilateral ties
EU Mexico FTA – Brussels reveals first negotiating priorities
The Commission has published six negotiating texts it tabled to Mexico after first round of talks held this year with the North American country aiming at modernising their 2001 free trade agreement. The texts tabled reveal the EU’s priorities: rules of origin, public procurement, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, energy and raw …
Data, labour mobility and innovation at heart of TABC concerns over Brexit
The Trans-Atlantic Business Council has released its member’s views on what they want to see preserved once the United Kingdom leaves the EU, a process which is expected to start in the spring 2017. The business group highlights issues related to the knowledge economy: labour mobility, data, and research and innovation. …
Bulgarian socialist-drafted employment committee report rejects CETA
The European Parliament is preparing its ratification of the contentious EU Canada free trade agreement CETA. While it is a generally received notion that CETA will likely muster enough votes to form a majority in favour of ratifying the deal, the process in the Parliament will not be smooth sailing. …
China MES : what member states are still working on
Member states have been working hard to reach a compromise package on overhauling EU trade defence law ahead of the long-awaited 11 December deadline enshrined in China’s WTO accession protocol obliging its partners to let go of the analogue country methodology applied to (former) planned economies, or ‘non market economies’. …
EU and Cuba to sign first ever political and economic pact
The recent death of the iconic leader Fidel Castro has accelerated a process initiated in 2014 by the EU to move away from sanctioning Cuba for its human rights abuses and instead gradually engaging politically and economically with the island nation that has been under a US trade embargo for more than sixty …
“Namur declaration” calls for more national involvement in EU trade deals
The leader of the Belgian region of Wallonia, Paul Magnette, who is also an academic, orchestrated a declaration on trade policy by leading professors across the West entitled the Namur Declaration. The three-page text, released on Monday (5 December 2016) calls for greater scrutiny of trade agreements by national and regional parliaments in …
China, Japan week – and others
The Commission is working through its trade agreements amidst heavy headwinds. A ministerial meeting on the Environmental Goods Agreement in Geneva failed to deliver a deal this week-end. Whether other trade and investment projects will materialise is not clear…. Below, the key files to watch this week. …
GSP Plus – Philippines, Pakistan and Sri Lanka under EU scrutiny
The EU will examine three countries under its GSP Plus scheme in early December: the Philippines, Pakisan and Sri Lanka. The Philippines have come into the crosshairs of those concerned about recently elected president Duterte’s human rights track record. Duterte’s ordering of extra-judicial killings in a bloody crack-down on drugs-related crime has raised …
Belgium to request opinion on ICS from ECJ after Singapore ruling
The Belgians are fighting internal tussles over how to follow up on the internal compromise achieved between the federal government, the Flemish regional bodies and the Wallonians ahead of the signature of the EU Canada trade pact CETA early November this year. Charles Michel has tabled a motion in …
