What kind of TTIP does the European Parliament want?
After almost two years of negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal, Members of the European Parliament are now assessing progress and will make recommendations to the negotiators. Those recommendations should not be taken lightly because they will...
“TTIP won’t lower standards” – Well then let’s break down how – UPDATE
Update: 11 September 2015 In this blog, I urged EU policy-makers to give us strong and tangible reassurances that TTIP wouldn’t lower standards. Well, they need to do a better job. The peace of the Brussels’ summer was indeed troubled...
Confirmed intra-EU ISDS mess: An update of the Micula case
In a previous blogpost, I wrote about the European Commission’s Competition authorities’ serving of an injunction on Romania provisionally ordering the country’s government not to pay Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) compensation to a Swedish investor, Micula. The rationale was...
TiSA mandate: a simple piece of paper or a symbol of democratic scrutiny?
While TTIP is in the spotlight… The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are not the only big trade negotiations happening now. The EU and 22 other member states[1] of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are currently negotiating a multi-party...
The new EU proposal on cosmetics: Finally beyond lip service?
Last week, the Commission discretely[1] published on its trade website a new version of its position paper on cosmetics within The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The main difference with the previous paper is that it no longer contains...
Regulatory cooperation: perhaps boring, but the TTIP storm on the horizon
Disclaimer: This analysis is based on the leaked version of the regulatory cooperation proposal. We will soon provide further analysis based on the textual proposal published by the Commission. Regulatory cooperation is on the face of it one of the least exciting...
How transparency can help monitor potential scandals in the TTIP negotiations
When I am asked why more transparency is needed in the TTIP negotiations, I reply it is because these trade negotiations are not mere ‘business as usual’; rules affecting our living standards are on the negotiating table and we should...
New year, new TTIP?
January kicked-off with three exciting developments on TTIP. It seems that in the wake of the 8th negotiating round of February TTIP has finally left its extended winter sleep. European Commission transparency “offensive” It started last week Wednesday when Commissioner...
Take aways from the ‘Investor-State Dispute Settlement: the TTIP Achilles heel?’ conference
9 December 2014, Renaissance Hotel
The Micula case: When ISDS messes with EU law
The mooted Investor-State Arbitration System (ISDS) is one of the most controversial elements of the ongoing TTIP negotiations. Much to the surprise of negotiators, ISDS is one of the driving forces behind recent major public protests throughout Europe against TTIP....