Brussels, 07/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - After a meeting of EU trade ministers on Thursday 7 May, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström promised to draw up formal European reform proposals by the end of the summer for the Investor-State Dispute Settlement scheme (ISDS), whose inclusion in the TTIP trade deal being negotiated with the United States is highly controversial.
Like the members of the European Parliament's international trade committee on Wednesday, the trade ministers on Thursday examined Malmström's suggested reform options for the ISDS so that it can be included in the TTIP.
Latvian foreign minster Edgars Rinkevics said the Council of Ministers welcomed the European Commission's reflection document as a step forward and the member states have laid all their concerns on the table. Most of the concerns are included in the reflection document and the ministers all agree that it would be good to make rapid progress with tangible proposals that could take the form of a more formal Council negotiating position. He said the Council had asked the Commission to pursue dialogue with the European Parliament and national parliaments on the issue.
Malmstrom said that work was needed to take on board the concerns already raised, such as the need for greater transparency, how countries' right to introduce their own legislation can be protected, how courts could operate better to avoid conflicts of interest, the introduction of a permanent tribunal, establishment of an appeals mechanism and the question of how ISDS would intermesh with national legal systems. She said she was delighted to see that most ministers agreed with her, although they had questions, and she welcomed the agreement about establishing a permanent court, adding that this would be the main objective. The court would start off as an EU-US court, but could be extended internationally at a later stage.
The Commissioner said she had received broad support from the ministers and was trying to reform the ISDS, dealing with shortcomings in the previous version and finding updated solutions for problems to protect investment from expropriation, abuse and discriminatory practices, but in a transparent manner and introducing greater legitimacy.
Malmström said she had received quite strong support from MEPs on Wednesday and hoped a good platform could be found with the ministers, MEPs and stakeholders to draw up a common EU position. (Emmanuel Hagry)