02/10/2018 (Agence Europe) – Provisions relating to the liberalisation of financial services should be excluded from free trade deals as they can affect the right of States to regulate and, hence, their ability to ensure financial stability. This is the argument put forward by Finance Watch and the Institut Veblen in a report entitled “Financial Regulation challenged by European Trade Policy”, published on Tuesday 2 October. The paper also calls for a service opening method through “positive” lists and the addition of a “non-time limited controls” clause for movements of capital by governments. Mathilde Dupré, the rapporteur, commented on Twitter: “European countries are the biggest exporters of financial services. That is why the sector is of offensive interest for the EU in talks. Even if this obviously means there must be impasse on all lessons learned from the 2008 financial disaster!” Link: https://bit.ly/2yhcHxN. (HD)