The European Parliament endorsed a package of unilateral trade preferences granted to Ukraine on top of those contained in its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU. The scope of the extra market openings to the EU’s eastern neighbour was scaled down after MEPs voted down last month a first series …
EU trade policies
FTAs: European Parliament trade committee chief tables sanctionable labour provisions
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 …
2017 trade barriers report singles out Russia, India, Switzerland
In a new report, the Commission singled out Russia, India and Switzerland as sources of new barriers to European traders and investors in 2017, while it claimed success in contributing to the removal of various barriers, notably in South Korea and China. The report is the seventh of such nature based on the Commission’s Market …
Blog: EU Japan free trade negotiation update
Updated on 26 June 2017 13:11 CET European and Japanese negotiators have worked the whole week-end in Tokyo to try and clinch what they call a “broad agreement”, in other words the general outline of a free trade agreement the technicalities of which would be left for negotiators to finalise …
Women empowerment climbs up EU trade policy priority list
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.
Blog: EU Summit – leader statements on free trade, FTAs, Brexit
The European Summit has started in Thursday (22 June 2017). Trade is not on the agenda before Friday (23 June 2017). However, it is going to be a central topic. We’ve selected a few leader statements to gauge the political temperature and the objectives of a few member states on trade agreements, …
Spanish socialists in CETA U-turn
PSOE chief Pedro Sanchez announced his party would not ‘support CETA’, marking a notable u-turn. Spanish socialists, the main opposition party, have so far proven to be in favour of ratifying the EU Canada trade agreement, but internal divisions over the stance have come to the open. The party …
Section 232 – Aluminium speaks, EU governments talk
The world is watching as the United States holds a hearing on Thursday (22 June 2017) in Congress on the so-called Section 232 investigation, gauging whether imports of steel and aluminium harm US national security. After NATO members calling on the US not to harm exports of US allies, steel …
New TDI method vote: MEPs set to push back on Commission plans
MEPs of the European Parliament’s trade committee adopted a report calling on the EU to go further than planned in a current move to overhaul the EU’s standard trade defence calculation methodology. The vote – with a majority of 33 INTA committee members in favour – comes as the EU prepares …
Trilogues : breakthrough on Ukraine autonomous measures
The European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament reached a political agreement in their ‘trilogue’ talks regarding unilateral trade preferences the EU is planning to grant Ukraine. The deal was sealed late in the night of 13 June 2017. The final offer to Ukraine could be made during …
