News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Bernd Lange, the social-democratic German MEP who chairs the trade committee of the European Parliament, has tabled concrete legal proposals for the inclusion of sanctions mechanisms for breaches to labour rules in EU free trade agreements. The Commission is still hesitant. The proposals were drawn up with the help of the German …
The EU is adding a new dimension to its trade policy: empowering women. That involves pioneering a gender chapter in the coming new EU-Chile free trade agreement.
The first draft of the European Parliament’s report on the EU’s current plans to overhaul its 2009 dual use export regulation goes further than the Commission’s initial proposals. The new dual use export control policy of the EU will expand export licensing requirements for certain technologies to situations where exports could …
The EU Commission is putting free trade talks with the Philippines on halt. In practice, this means it is not setting a new date for a new round of free trade negotiations given concerns over the country’s human rights record. FTA talks with the Philippines were launched in 2016 and are part …
The European Parliament has started working on EU plans to review its export control legislation. The legislative process initiated can be expect to be messy as it significantly extends the scope of situations to which exports controls of so-called dual-use technologies could apply. The move puts the EU on …
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 …
The Council, the Commission and the European Parliament have reached a ‘political’ agreement on the shape of a long-awaited EU regulation aiming at eliminating minerals such as gold, tantalum and tungsten from war torn-regions (for example in Central Africa) from European companies’ supply chains. In 2014, the Parliament sent back to …
The European Parliament is sitting in a plenary session from 21 t0 24 November 2016. A few agenda highlights: The Parliament will vote on a package of measures to combat wildlife trafficking on Tuesday (22 November). The report by MEP Catherine Bearder broadly endorses a plan presented by the Commission. It calls …
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and Ambassador Rodney Perera in Brussels on 20 October 2016. Credit: Iana Dreyer It should be simple and straightforward: if Sri Lanka applies the 27 human rights, labour and environmental conventions listed by the EU’s regulation, the country should be able to benefit from …
The German Social-Democrats were promised a declaration by trade commissioner Malmström and trade minister Freeland ahead of a coming Council meeting that aims to give the green light to the signature and ratification of CETA later this month. They are getting it. And it does not quite satisfy the demands made by Bernd …
