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 …
EU trade policies
Sri Lanka tries to narrow down EU demands in GSP Plus bid
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and Ambassador Rodney Perera in Brussels on 20 October 2016. Credit: Iana Dreyer It should be simple and straightforward: if Sri Lanka applies the 27 human rights, labour and environmental conventions listed by the EU’s regulation, the country should be able to benefit from …
Early possible scenarios for CETA
Belgium is still not in a position to endorse the signing of CETA. Despite this announcement, following a telephone conversation between Council president Donald Tusk and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada and the EU have decided not yet to cancel a bilateral summit scheduled on Thursday (27 October 2016), …
EU should engage on data flows in TTIP to avoid WTO challenge, argues new legal study
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 …
Wallonia: We are the 0.45 percent
A graph put together by Erik van der Marel, a Brussels-based economist and author of the blog Bruxenomics, shows that Wallonia, with its 3.5 million people, accounts for 0.45 percent of the EU’s trade with Canada. So much for people power! Sources for the graph: Erik’s calculations using Eurostat; OECD; Politico. Note: based on …
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 …
TTIP: Oettinger in conciliatory mode on digital
The Commission’s Commissioner in charge of the digital economy Günther Oettinger, and famed for erring on the defensive side when it comes to handling US digital firms and shield German telecommunications champions from their market dominance, has come back from a trip to the United States with a few conciliatory …
Commission to leverage TDI to tackle market interventionism
The EU Commission appears eager to reassure critics on both sides of the China market economy status debate in Europe that it is doing something. In fact it looks as if most China trade files are stuck, or at the very least advancing at snails’ pace. The EU and China …
