Since 2013, the EU is the world’s biggest food product exporter. New data released by the Commission suggest the export performance of the EU’s food sector continues to be strong, with the EU’s export surplus reaching € 18.8 bn, the highest on record, in 2016. Last year, the EU exported …
EU trade policies
French constitutional court seized on CETA – to rule within one month
More than one hundred French MPs called on the constitutional court on Wednesday (22 February 2017) in Paris to rule on the compatibility of the EU Canada agreement CETA with France’s constitutional order. The French court has one month to decide on the case. An initial cursory legal analysis of the …
In brief: Russia appeals WTO ruling on commercial vehicle duties
Russia has appealed against a January 2017 WTO dispute settlement ruling indicting it for not following the rulebook in applying trade defence duties against German and Italian commercial vehicles. The WTO’s main disagreement was the fact that Russia only took into account the damage to one company – Sollers – in …
Britain’s awkward embrace of CETA
Eurosceptic MEP David Campbell Bannerman celebrating CETA in the European Parliament 15-16 February 2017 Wariness about its own future in CETA has replaced Theresa May’s government’s initial enthusiastic embrace the EU’s new trade pact with Canada, Iana Dreyer writes. When the European Parliament ratified the EU-Canada trade agreement …
Updated: Commission to decide alone on solar panel duty compromise
The EU Commission is set to act alone in a disputed solar panel antidumping case after appeals committee puts case in limbo. EU member states comprising 48 percent of the EU’s population agreed on Friday (17 February 2017) to the Commission’s revised proposal on the extension of solar panel duties …
Japan-EU Bonn meet yields no breakthrough in FTA talks
EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström and Japan’s foreign minister Fumio Kishida held a meeting in Bonn, Germany, today, taking stock of ongoing free trade agreement talks as these appear to have stumbled. As previously reported by us, the more than three-year old trade negotiations with Japan have stuttered in …
ECJ gives Commission exclusive power to sign copyright pact under the EU’s commercial policy
This week, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) opined that the EU is exclusively competent to conclude the 2009 Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled. Though the matter of the treaty itself is non commercial, the court ruled …
CETA vote divides Dutch, Polish, Belgian mainstream MEPs
Data on the European Parliament’s vote consenting to the Comprehensive Economic and Partnership Agreement with Canada released today reveal emerging new fractures in Europe’s political groups as pro-trade mainstream parties saw a rise in votes against the pact. The vote on CETA held in Strasbourg on Wednesday (15 February 2017) wielded less …
MEPs approve partnership pact with Mongolia
It took almost four years for the deal that replaces a 1993 cooperation agreement between the EU and Mongolia to be greenlighted by the European Parliament. On Wednesday (15 February 2017) MEPs approved a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement – PCA – with the Asian country squeezed in between Russia and China …
Trans-Atlantic Business Council calls for revival of TTIP after MEP CETA green light
It’s almost impossible to see a negative opinion across Europe’s business community on the European Parliament’s vote in favour of CETA on Wednesday (15 February 2017). Even a big chunk of the free trade agreement-sceptic European farming and food sector is looking forward to trading under the pact’s new rules. United States observers, for …
