Today, the Dutch government decided to postpone a decision on whether to take the final steps to enact the EU Ukraine Association Agreement. It has set a 1 November deadline for a final decision and is ready to revoke its support for the deal should the Parliament reject supporting a compromise …
Internal EU politics
Commission plans to step up promotion of EU Vietnam FTA – amidst CETA row
The Vietnamese government is watching the protracted CETA ratification process in the EU with perplexity and anxiety as it asks itself what this could mean for its own recently concluded deal with the EU. The EU Commission shares these worries. In 2015, Vietnam concluded a wide-reaching free trade agreement with …
Belgian compromise: Wallonia can still veto CETA
The Belgian media RTBF released the final text of the compromise hammered out between Wallonia, other regional entities in Belgium, and the Belgian federal government, on CETA today after three days of marathon talks in the small country that hosts the EU institutions. The deal paves the way for Belgian signature …
In depth: EU member states divided in face of Commission crackdown on intra-EU ISDS
Horia Ciurtin walks us through the dynamics unleashed by an ongoing divisive Commission crackdown on intra-EU bilateral investment treaties.
Last-ditch attempts to salvage Ukraine Association deal in Netherlands
The EU Ukraine Association Agreement, signed in 2014, and already partially in force, is at risk. The Dutch parliament is scrambling for a way to get the deal ratified despite a negative vote during a referendum in April 2016, and following a rebuff by the Council to Dutch requests for a common …
Council tries to keep flame alive on TTIP but agrees on little on trade
There was little agreement on key trade matters at the heads of government gathering in Brussels on Friday (21 October 2017). It wasn’t a foregone conclusion. On Thursday, it was not clear whether the member states would continue endorsing the pursuit of TTIP negotiations at the October Council meeting that …
Updated – CETA Freeland walks out of Wallonia talks
Last update on 21 October 2017. 17.00 CET. Canada’s trade minister walked out of talks with the Wallonian government on Friday (21 October 2016) afternoon. Fresh language in the ‘interpretative declaration’ of CETA agreed yesterday night (20 October 2016) between the Wallonian leader Paul Magnette and the EU …
Insight: CETA reveals structural flaws of Lisbon Treaty
We are very close to a deadline for the 28 European Union member states to endorse the flagship CETA agreement. Whether the Canadian trade agreement gets endorsed this week to pave the way for an EU Canada summit on Thursday (27 October 2016) or not: CETA is a lesson in what …
Germany says provisional application of CETA to fall through if deal rejected by one state
Germany has given the green light to the signing of the Canada EU trade deal at a Council meeting today following a ruling by its constitutional court that rejected requests made by NGOs to issue an injunction to the German government to stop the CETA approval process. But Berlin wants CETA …
Trade: the tribulations of the ‘political’ Commission
The ‘political’ Commission launched by president Juncker, touted as a means to revive the European Union’s standing and the bureaucracy’s effectiveness, has led to paralysis as trade has moved centre-stage in the bloc’s perpetual political crisis, Iana Dreyer opines.
