Vietnam concluded an FTA with the EU in late 2015 and is keen on seeing it coming into force as soon as possible. Whereas the Commission is trying to ensure another agreement concluded almost at the same time as the Vietnam deal – CETA with Canada – gets ratified and can come …
EU FTAs & bilateral ties
German Social Democrats greenlight CETA – ask for future revisions
Germany’s social-democratic party has endorsed the EU Canadian trade agreement CETA at a party convention on Monday (19 September). This move increases the chances that the treaty will be ratified by Germany, but does not give Brussels and Ottawa a blank cheque. The approval came after SPD …
ECJ annuls Indonesia and Argentina biodiesel antidumping duties
The Court of Justice of the European Union has asked the European Commission to annul current antidumping duties applied to biodiesel from Indonesia and from Argentina.
Head of German Catholic Church says TTIP can contribute to fairer world economic order
He is Catholic, he is German, and his family name is Marx. You’d think he is against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership currently under negotiation between the EU and the United States. But in fact he approves of TTIP. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German Bishop’s Conference, and also …
Malmström and Freeland ready to offer further clarifications on CETA
Canada and the Commission are to offer further clarifications on CETA ahead of a meeting of member states on the EU-Canadian trade deal. The German social democrats – the SPD – received only part of what they asked for. After Germany’s Sigmar Gabriel, the country’s vice chancellor went to Canada on Thursday …
Comment – CETA and TTIP: twelve apostles do not a majority make
A letter by twelve EU member states supporting the Commission in its endeavour to see through the trade agreement concluded with Canada (CETA) this autumn and to finalise TTIP negotiations with the United States was received as a weak and puny last ditch attempt to salvage the projects. But does …
Malmström asks Council to fast-forward Ecuador FTA decision
Commissioner Malmström is trying to accelerate the ratification of Ecuador’s planned accession to the 2012 free trade agreement between the EU and Peru and Colombia by asking the member states to fast track their decision. The move was made ahead of a visit to Brussels by Ecuador’s Vice President Jorge Glas and its Minister of Foreign Trade of Ecuador Juan Carlos …
Parliament greenlights EU SADC agreement
The European Parliament agreed to the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreement with the Southern African Development Community. The region-to-region trade deal was adopted in June 2016, after more than a decade of negotiations. The EPA introduces reciprocal preferential market access between the EU on the one hand, and Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, and South …
Jean-Claude Juncker presses for CETA
Commission president Juncker called on the EU to ratify CETA, the trade agreement with Canada concluded in February, and urged member states to accept reforms to the EU’s antidumping laws. “One billion more worth of exports creates fourteen thousand extra jobs in Europe”, Juncker said. “This is in …
CJEU: Advocate General slams 2015 Morocco trade agreement ruling
The EU Council has increased its chances to win an appeal against a ruling by the General Court in December 2015 that invalidated a 2012 EU trade agreement with Morocco because it purportedly did not take into account human rights considerations in the territory of Western Sahara. The Advocate General’s opinion released today …
