Brussels, 04/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 4 March, the European Commission confirmed the decision of the previous Barroso-led Commission to proceed with the request for an opinion of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on the free trade agreement (FTA) between Singapore and the EU.
On 30 October 2014, the Commission decided to ask the CJEU for an opinion on the EU competence to sign and ratify the FTA with Singapore. The FTA was initialled in September 2013, and its chapter on investment protection was finalised on 17 October 2014 (see EUROPE 11188).
The current Juncker-led Commission has looked at this initiative and decided to go ahead. “We [ed: the college of commissioners] have reviewed the details of this issue as we decided to respect the principle of discontinuity between the colleges. We decided to look at an agreement again that was concluded by the former college, asking the Court to give an opinion”, European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans told press on Wednesday.
The Commission is making this request because it wants to clarify, with regard to the Lisbon Treaty, which provisions of the EU-Singapore FTA fall within the EU's exclusive or shared competence, and which remain the exclusive competence of the member states and must be approved by national bodies - in other words, the Commission wants to know if this is a mixed agreement or not. (Emmanuel Hagry)
Decision welcomed at European Parliament. “It is in everyone's interest, not least in the interest of member states, to gain more clarity on the question of shared and exclusive competences in trade matters. The rules laid out by the Lisbon Treaty should be respected without having to be reinterpreted every time an agreement is up for vote”, said chairman of the European Parliament's international trade committee, Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany).
“The Lisbon Treaty can no longer remain a matter of interpretation regarding trade. It was an important and positive step by the EU Commission to pass now the decision to the European Court of Justice to address the ongoing disagreement between the Commission and Council. Only in this way can we find a solution for all current and upcoming negotiations. It is important that the processes are not permanently delayed by the recurring questions of competence, whereby the EU trading partners get more planning”, said Daniel Caspary (EPP, Germany). (Emmanuel Hagry)