The Bulgarian Presidency, which took command of the Council of the EU on 1 January for the next six months, will continue the efforts made by the EU for the signature of free-trade agreements with priority external regions and countries, it has announced in its programme of work.
Bulgaria will work to support the conclusion of negotiations for an EU-Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) free-trade agreement and to update the global EU-Mexico agreement, which are moving into their final phases (see EUROPE 11925 and 11931).
The Bulgarian Presidency will continue work to issue mandates authorising the Commission to negotiate free-trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand. The Council's adoption of these mandates, which were proposed by the Commission in September last year, are on ice pending the EU's internal debate on the new architecture for trade deals (see EUROPE 11901).
Sofia will also have to oversee the finalisation at technical level and legal finishing touches to the economic partnership agreement with Japan, which was concluded on 8 December 2017, with a view to its ratification and implementation, which the Commission is hoping will be complete by the beginning of 2019 (see EUROPE 11922).
At multilateral level, the Bulgarian Presidency will seek to consolidate a multilateral trading system that is not yet quite fit for purpose, as illustrated by the recent breakdown of the 11th ministerial conference of the WTO, in Buenos Aires in mid-December 2017 (see EUROPE 11926).
Sofia will also support the reform of the international dispute settlement system between states and investors and the forthcoming negotiations to create a multilateral court to resolve investment disputes, proposed at the end of 2016 by the EU and Canada on the basis of the investment court model, set out in their free-trade agreement (CETA). On 13 September 2017, Commission submitted a recommendation to the Council to open negotiations on the creation of a multilateral investment court (see EUROPE 11826).
Internally, the Bulgarian Presidency hopes to push for progress in key dossiers in the fight against unfair commercial practices and market distortions, such as the compensatory and anti-dumping measures applicable to third countries. It will oversee the confirmation and validation of the inter-institutional agreement on the revision of the EU’s trade defence instruments concluded on 5 December 2017 and confirmed at the Council at ambassador level on 20 December (see EUROPE 11920).
Sofia also hopes to move forward discussions on the intended common framework for the filtering of foreign direct investment (FDI) of third countries in the EU, which was tabled by the Commission on 14 September (see EUROPE 11862), and on reciprocity in access to public procurement contracts.
A formal meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in the format bringing together the trade ministers is scheduled for 22 May. An informal meeting of the European trade ministers will be held in Sofia on 26 and 27 February; its agenda has not, as yet, been confirmed. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)