The arrest of a Saigon-based trade agreement critic and independent journalist complicates the European Parliament’s final preparations to ratify a landmark trade agrement and an accompanying investment protection accord with Vietnam.
European Parliament
Week in Brussels: Solomon Islands – How a trade file run by a far right MEP is starting to play out
The Pacific Islands Economic Partnership Agreement is now in the hands of French MEP André Rougé, a member of France’s far right Rassemblement National and the European Parliament’s Identity and Democracy group that includes far right parties from eight other European countries. A file that would have sailed quietly through …
Hogan hearing: geostrategic pitch meets sustinability and farming questions
The questions Phil Hogan was least comfortable with were those around digital trade and European plans to establish a multilateral investment court. The more than two hour hearing with MEPs from the international trade committe was uneventful and dry – addressing at times the minutiae of ‘rules of origin’ in …
Mercosur pact inflames European trade politics
Phil Hogan might come to regret having been the one to have made the the EU-Mercosur trade agreement possible earlier this summer by brokering difficult last-minute compromises. The outgoing agriculture commissioner will be among the first nominees for the new European Commission to be heard by MEPs as he bids …
EU capitals and parliament eye Mercosur, China, Vietnam, US and Brexit as trade priorities
The incoming European Commission plans to put the fight against climate change front and centre in its next five-year tenure. But signs are the EU’s executive arm will be squeezed in between capitals – many of which might want to go slow on controversial files such as a carbon border …
Commission: Ursula Von der Leyen elected on platform that includes carbon border tax
The European Parliament has voted for Ursula von der Leyen to lead the next European Commission. The German nominee obtained support from a narrow majority of nine MEPs.
Greens not among trade committee top dogs — but sustainability issues are top MEP priority
The international trade committee of the European Parliament will be led by experienced MEPs with a stake in continuity in current European Union trade policy. Even if the Green group is not in the management this term, the signs are that advocates of a stronger focus on labour, and in …
New INTA committee: Old guard on your left, new faces, Greek surge
There will plenty of new faces in the new international trade committee in the European Parliament, whose configuration was agreed late last night in Strasbourg.
Comment: Greener or messier EU trade policy going forward?
Will the EU make its trade policy greener in the coming years? If anything, the politics of green trade will become messier, reckons Iana Dreyer.
Week ahead in EU trade: EU-US, China, Chile, Tunisia, E-commerce
April could see a slowdown in decision-making in trade policy in Brussels. But this does not mean there will be less anxiety over two major files: EU-US trade relations and Brexit. In April we will also see new developments on EU-Chile and EU-Tunisia trade negotiations and on e-commerce. Continued EU-US, …
