The EU Parliament has descended into acrimony over investment arbitration by postponing a vote and a debate on TTIP yesterday. While we leave the politicians to their squabbles, let’s have a fresh look at the reality of investment arbitration cases. Recent data provided by the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, …
Investment protection and promotion
ISDS: Paris proposals for a permanent international investment arbitration court
This week Paris sent a seventeen page document to the EU Commission in which it outlines its ideas for reforming investor-to-state arbitration in future EU trade and investment agreements. The proposals add some flesh to the general – and vague – idea brought forward by the EU Commission last month for a permanent investment court. …
Blog: French and German governments on COM ISDS proposals & Berlin call for priority to national courts
Quick views on how France and in particularly Germany have responded to this week’s proposals from Brussels on how to address investor-to-state disputes in TTIP. By Iana Dreyer.
Comment: Commission ISDS reform proposals & why they will not appease critics
The Commission’s proposals to reform ISDS in its coming trade and investment treaties made public today reveal a gradual and incremental approach to reforming Europe’s investment protection system. This will not likely appease left-of-centre critics of international investment tribunals. By Iana Dreyer.
Reviving EU ASEAN free trade talks – how to succeed this time round
The EU is considering reviving region-wide free trade negotiations with ASEAN. If Brussels is not to fail again in this endeavour as it did a few years ago, a fresh, flexible approach, to negotiations, respectful of local political realities, is overdue. The more so as the EU has significantly lost …
COMMENT: What an ECJ opinion on EU accession to Europe’s foremost human rights convention means for ISDS
Opinion 2/13 anyone? This is a recent legal opinion of the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice on whether it is legal for the EU to join the European Convention on Human Rights. It has important ramifications for current EU Commission efforts to reform investor-to-state dispute settlement. By Iana Dreyer.
Comment: Centre-right MEPs have seized the moment on ISDS
The EU Parliament centre-right majority group are becoming more visible in the debate on investment protection issues in trade agreements and in TTIP. MEPs from the EPP made an unusual show of presence and responsiveness at the trade committee meeting on 18 March 2015 in which trade commissioner Malmström presented the …
Analysis: Party politics of ISDS in the EU – a moving target
After debates in the European parliament and in the German social-democratic party held this week on investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in TTIP, only one thing is clear: ISDS is a moving target on the European political scene. By Iana Dreyer.
COMMENT: Turning the tide on deteriorating EU investment protection standards after Lisbon
The standards of investment protection in the European Union (EU) have been lowered at a time when the bloc badly needs private and foreign direct investment, argues Nikos Lavranos in a piece of commentary on the state of investment law on the continent. But the EU can turn the tide …
