The new edition of the German Marshall Fund’s annual Transatlantic Trends makes for sobering reading for those with an interest in globalisation, trade, technology and geopolitics, comments IanaDreyer.
Internal EU politics
Week in Brussels: UK Contact Group, Vietnam FTA, digital platform sellouts
European Parliament sets up new UK Contact Group; EU Vietnam civil society dialogue postponed until further notice; France, Germany and Netherlands want even tougher rules on company takeovers by digital platforms.
*UPDATED* FAC Trade: Trade policy review conclusions, IPI
Council conclusions on EU trade review stumble over open strategic autonomy, Mercosur, Mexico
Revised EU industrial strategy : fourteen sectors slated to reduce ‘strategic dependencies’
Alongside long-announced new legislation aimed at countering the distortive effects of subsidies of non-EU firms operating in the European Single Market, the Commission is set to unveil a revised industrial strategy in the coming days.
Week in Brussels: Biden effect on Northern Ireland, CETA, Netherlands and friends
It’s been one of those mega-weeks in trade again, culminating perhaps with Joe Biden beaming into the European Council last night to say hello. Nothing concrete came out of this meeting. Official statements indicate this was mostly about bonding and setting lofty common goals such as working together on COVID-19 …
Van Brempt report outlines parliament position on vaccine exports, TRIPS, China
The European Parliament is preparing a report on trade policy post COVID-19. The drafting is in the hands of the Belgian S&D group member Kathleen van Brempt and will help define the parliament’s positioning in several trade policy files in the coming months. A first version of the report is …
MEPs vote on supply chain due diligence report
The European Parliament is taking a stand on what it wants from EU-wide ‘corporate due diligence’ ahead of legislation that the European Commission is yet to table in a report drafted by Lara Wolters, a Dutch MEP from the S&D group. The report is 79 pages long, has a record …
France pours cold water on idea of swift EU Mercosur pact ratification
France is holding the key cards among European Union member states in having the long-awaited EU Mercosur trade pact ratified – perhaps one day – in Europe.
MEPs call for unilateral EU actions first before ratifying China investment agreement
The international trade committee debated the EU China Comprehensive Investment Agreement – also known as CAI – for the first time since its conclusion last December. A cross-political group consensus is emerging: the EU needs to move first in other areas of policy affecting its China economic and political relationship …
Week in Brussels: CETA, France, ECT, China, EPAs
This week has seen two ‘strategic’ initiatives: the launch of a new paper on EU-US relations and the upgrading of EU-ASEAN relations post RCEP. Here other developments of potential interest. Dombrovksis talks to French Senate – Paris CETA ratification date unclear Nobody knows yet when the French government will put …
