Autres événements

09-03-2017 15:00
What Future for Global Trade?

Brussels
Poster for the event on What future for the Global Trade?
Poster_Global_trade.jpg © European Union

The aim of the event was to explore what are the opportunities and challenges arising for the EU and the WTO in recently increasing protectionism for regional integration processes, and how will growing opposition to free trade affect global supply chains and the growth in digital economy? How will other countries react to the threat of US protectionist measures, and can we expect a shift towards China’s leadership in setting international trade agendas?

International trade has moved to the forefront of the 2016 US presidential campaign, and the trade policy of the new US administration tends to shift towards protectionist measures and a restriction of international trade. Moreover, protectionist pressures are increasing across the globe, while bilateral and regional trade negotiations continue between many countries.

29-11-2016 17:00
Exchange of views with Commissioners Hogan and Malmström on trade and agriculture

Brussels

Trade and agriculture MEPs quized Commissioners Malmström and Hogan on impacts of trade talks on the EU’s agriculture. While world markets offer huge opportunities for agri-food producers, the EU is alert to sensitivities of specific farming sectors. Members discussed findings of a recent study on potential effects of twelve pending and potential FTAs, covering USA, Canada, Mercosur, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey,

The study assesses expected cumulated impacts of tariff reduction, not taking into account dampening effects of tariff rate quotas, removal of non-tariff measures and value-added offered by geographical indications. The results show balanced impacts for the EU agriculture, anticipating significant gains for the EU dairy and pig meat producers and highlighting risks for the beef and rice sectors. European agri-food exports hit a record high of €11.5bn this September, with overall EU agri-food exports reaching nearly €130bn October 2015 to September 2016, increasing the net surplus to €17.6bn.

14-07-2016 09:00
Presentation of the Priorities of the Slovak Presidency in International Trade

Brussels

Minister of Economy, Mr Peter Žiga presented the priorities of the Slovak Presidency in the Union’s Trade Policy to INTA Committee Members.

21-06-2016 16:00
INTA/DEVE exchange of views on the potential impact of TTIP on developing countries

Brussels

The EU Trade Commissioner, Ms Cecilia Malmström, started the discussions followed by a presentation of a representative of the ACP countries and an academic from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

The debate, co-chaired by the INTA Chairman, Bernd Lange, and the DEVE Vice-Chair Maurice Ponga, shed more light on risks and opportunities of TTIP for developing countries.

16-06-2016 09:00
Joint INTA-ENVI-DEVE debate on FLEGT

Joint INTA-ENVI-DEVE held an exchange of views on the Evaluation of FLEGT Action Plan and EU Timber Regulation Review. Members of the three Committees debated together with the European Commission on the effectiveness and coherence of the EU policies and actions in this field.

Illegal logging and trade in illegally logged timber is a persistent global problem that the EU is addressing through the Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) in force since 2003.

The cornerstone of this action plan is a bilateral voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) between the EU and a wood exporting country committing both parties to trading only legally harvested timber and timber products. The EU Timber Regulation (EU/995/2010) is the key instrument focusing on the demand side of the problem.

12-11-2015 00:00
Presentation of a study comparing investment chapters of the EU's international trade

Brussels

Prof. Dr. Steffen Hindelang (Department of Law at the Freie Universität Berlin) presented a study comparing investment chapters of the EU's international trade and investment agreements.

The study compares the investment chapters of the EU/Singapore FTA, EU/Canada CETA, the 1998 Energy charter treaty, the 2001 USA-Lithuania bilateral investment treaty and the 2010 Germany-Jordan bilateral investment treaty. The author underlined that the provision of the EU agreements are more comprehensive on the standards and investment protection than bilateral ones concluded by the EU's member states or the Energy Charter.

14-07-2015 00:00
Presentation by the Luxembourgish Presidency

Brussels

Mr Jean Asselborn, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg, representing the President-in-Office of the Council, informed INTA Members about the priorities of the Luxembourgish Presidency in the area of International Trade Policy (July-December 2015).

13-07-2015 00:00
The new Trade Strategy - Presentation by Commissioner Malmström

Brussels

INTA Members heard from Ms Cecilia Malmström, Commissioner for Trade, ideas for the new trade strategy which is intended to reformulate the EU’s trade priorities.

The European Commission aims to release an updated strategy for the European Union's trade policy in autumn 2015.

In order to deal with the trade challenges resulting from the shifting geopolitical landscape, the Common Commercial Policy is expected to become even stronger in the future.

A robust trade and investment policy strategy must ensure that trade can remain an effective tool to contribute to jobs, economic growth and sustainable development.

13-07-2015 00:00
Presentation by Mr Renaud Sorieul, UNCITRAL Secretary-General

Brussels

UNCITRAL is a Commission established by the UN General Assembly with a mandate to harmonize and modernize international trade law.

Since its creation UNCITRAL has contributed to developing international standards in the field of arbitration as a peaceful means for settling international disputes.

The Rules on Transparency provide a procedural regime allowing broader access by the public to documents or open hearings related to investment disputes.

One of the concerns about investment arbitration is the fact that the relevant procedures and their results are kept fully confidential even when the dispute involves matters of public interest.

Since the Rules on Transparency only apply to investment agreements concluded after the adoption of the Rules, UNCITRAL prepared a voluntary complementary convention to make the rules applicable also to existing investment treaties.

15-06-2015 00:00
Roundtable discussion on officially supported export credits

Brussels

EU Member States have export-credit programmes in place to facilitate the financing of exports to high-risk markets. These programmes not only constitute an important instrument to enhance trade and business opportunities for European companies but have also an impact on the EU's external policies in general.

As part of its control function, the INTA Committee has been following 'officially supported export credits' programmes in EU Member States very closely on the basis of the Commission's annual reports on the use of export-credit schemes in Member States.

Back in 2012 Parliament adopted a resolution that noted the necessity of complying with the Union's general provisions on external action and of ensuring coherence with other policy areas, in particular the fight against climate change.


There have been some modifications to the OECD 'Arrangement' over the last year. And the Commission informed Parliament that a delegated act on export credits is foreseen in the second half of 2015.

The roundtable discussion in INTA gave the opportunity to listen to the high-level experts who presented their views on export-credit programmes from various perspectives.