Following the state of the union speech made the day before by its President, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission on Thursday 14 September unveiled a raft of proposals to reinforce the commercial agenda of the EU and the transparency of the process of trade negotiations.
The package includes a draft Community framework for the screening of investments, aiming to ensure that foreign direct investment remains a major source of growth in the EU without infringing the EU's strategic interests in security and public order. The draft regulation is accompanied by additional measures to take effect immediately, which are described in a communication explaining the strategic need to screen the investments of third countries (see other article).
The package also includes draft mandates of the Council to open free-trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand. “These agreements would build on the recent successful agreements with Canada, Vietnam, Singapore as well as Japan among others, expanding the alliance of partners committed to progressive rules for global trade”, the Commission stresses.
Also on the table is a recommendation to the Council to open talks for the creation of a multilateral investment dispute court, on the basis of the new investor/state dispute arbitration model, the Investment Court System (ICS), included in the EU/Canada and EU/Vietnam free-trade agreements and which the Commission hopes to include in all of the free-trade agreements it is negotiating which contain a chapter on investment.
“This major innovation in global governance would be yet another step towards a more transparent, coherent and fair approach to deal with company complaints and investment protection agreements”, the Commission states. “Such a court system will enable us to get the right balance between the interests of states and investors and the necessary democratic legitimacy by ensuring independence, accountability and transparency”, commented the First Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans.
Finally, with the aim of ensuring that EU trade policy is as transparent as possible, the Commission has decided to set up an advisory group on the EU's trade agreements, to enter into dialogue with civil society and gather the views of a broad range of stakeholders, including unions and employer organisations, consumer organisations and other NGOs.
The Commission is also proposing in future to publish all new proposed trade negotiation mandates, starting with the draft negotiation mandates with Australia and New Zealand and those to create a multilateral investment court. These documents will be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council and, at the same time, will be automatically sent to all national parliaments and made available to the public. The European Commission calls on the member states to ensure that all national and regional stakeholders participate in the negotiations at the earliest possible stage.
“The EU continues to champion free and fair trade, at the forefront of a group of like-minded countries. Today's package of proposals shows this leadership in action. It also demonstrates our determination to develop EU trade policy in a way that is open and inclusive as possible”, said Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)