Suchergebnisse

The actions of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) concerned with such issues as development, human rights, and the protection of the environment voicing concerns to public authorities raises the questions: Do these newly mobilised societal actors influence EU trade policy outcomes? We answer in the negative, arguing that such groups, which have diffuse costs and benefits from trade policies, do not dispose of resources with which they can threaten or enhance political actors' chances of re-election or re-appointment. A survey of NGOs and business groups as well as two in-depth case studies on the negotiations concerning the EU's Economic Partnership Agreements and the EU's policy on access to medicines in developing countries support our reasoning. The analysis shows that although NGOs have gained access to policy-makers, they have largely failed to shift policy outcomes in their favour.

This paper addresses the problem of agency losses (agency shirking and agency slippage) in the process of power delegation in EU trade policy. The central question is whether a conflictual situation exists between the interests of the member states and those of the European Commission (agency shirking), or whether the structure of delegation in itself stimulates the agent to adopt a different position from the principals (agency slippage). Drawing on the principal-agent approach, I argue that agency losses are due to the structure of delegation and that the existence of multiple principals with diverging preferences facilitates agency. I find empirical evidence that the Council-Commission relationship on trade politics has different dynamics depending on the negotiating stage. In the initial negotiating stage, when defining the negotiating mandate of the Commission, the relationship is cooperative. Conflict between the Commission and the Council only breaks out in a latter stage of negotiations, when the Commission makes concessions at the international level. ; EU Trade Politics; agency losses; principal-agent approach; Council-Commission relationship; agricultural trade liberalization

This book explores the extent to which EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) pursue sustainable agriculture in third country parties. It contends that this should be part of a duty for the EU enshrined in the Treaties to promote its fundamental values in its external action. It suggests that the extent to which this occurs in practice, may be reviewed judicially by the Court of Justice of the European Union. Against this background, selected agreements concluded by the EU with developed and developing countries (Canada, South Korea, Ukraine, Chile, SADC countries and Vietnam) are taken as case studies.The author concludes that, in spite of the remarkable progress made hitherto, EU trade policy is still far from being in line with the increasingly strong commitment of the EU to take the lead in the international arena for environmental and climate matters.This work adopts primarily a legal methodology, but it broaches the subject in interdisciplinary terms. It is addressed not only to (EU) policy-makers, but also to scholars of different fields and to the wider public interested in topics that have become of common concern for the future of our planet.With a foreword by Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General of the European Commission - DG Environment

We recently welcomed Camila Villard Duran to eu!radio! She is a law professor at ESSCA School of Management, based in Angers, France. She spoke in defence of the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur.
The post In defence of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

"Welchen Einfluss haben Unternehmen auf die europäische Handelspolitik? Durch einen Überblick des
Politikfelds analysiert der Artikel Instrumente, mit denen Unternehmen in der EU Lobbyismus betreiben
können. Vielen Firmen werden allerdings nicht von sich aus aktiv. Im Gegenteil, die Europäische
Kommission bemüht sich aktiv um die Zusammenarbeit der Unternehmen, da sie dadurch ihre
Verhandlungsposition vis-à-vis Mitgliedsstaaten und Drittstaaten stärken kann. Dieses umgekehrte
Lobbying hat Folgen für die Inhalte der Unternehmensforderungen im Bereich Handelspolitik.
Wirtschaftliche Akteure können ein gutes Arbeitsverhältnis mit der Europäischen Kommission aufbauen,
wenn sie gesamteuropäische Konzepte verfolgen, sei es Handelsliberalisierung oder EU-weite
Regulierung. Nationaler Protektionismus kann europäische Entscheidungsfindung blockieren, so dass
merkantilistische Anfragen an die nationalen Regierungen gerichtet werden müssen, die diese dann durch
den Rat der Minister voranbringen können. Der Artikel illustriert diese zweigleisige Lobbyingstrategien in
der Landwirtschaft, dem Textilhandel, dem Finanzdienstleistungssektor und der Telekommunikation." [Autorenreferat]

Albania is a member of WTO from September 2000 and is currently in a deep and substantial transformation of the trade policy. Albanian trade regime is very liberal, open and transparent fully compliant with WTO law. Accession to EU is the strategic goal of all Governments after '90s and alignment with EU acquis is at the core of any process. EU integration is an engine for the development in all candidate or potential candidate countries. This process requires the alignment of national policies and harmonization of the legislation. Trade policy is among the most developed policies in European Union and Albania. This is mainly due to the membership in World Trade Organization (WTO) and Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with the most important trading partners. The accession of Albania to EU will significantly affect the Albanian trade policy. This paper analyses the state of play of Albanian trade policy and presents the main developments in the EU Common Commercial Policy after the Lisbon Treaty (2009). Based on this analysis the paper highlights the implications for Albanian trade policy.

Trade agreements can contribute to long term development - and thus to addressing the causes of flight and migration - as long as they consistently pursue sustainable development and real market opening. The latest theoretical and empirical findings highlight the enormous complexity of the relationship between trade and migration. Other factors (such as war, economic crisis etc.) Often play a larger role as triggers of migra­tion than trade policy and trade agreements. One aspect is incontestable: Migration always has a positive effect on trade flows. Conversely, the effect of trade agreements on migration is sometimes positive, sometimes negative: If they lead to increasing per capita income they may temporarily stimulate migration. A certain level of income is required before people are able to emigrate at all. Using trade agreements to create legal migration opportunities in the area of services reduces the incentive for irregular migration. This question is especially relevant for the EU, as it faces the looming problem of labour shortages in the ageing societies of its member states. Ecological and social aspects of investment and trade should be better integrated in all free trade agreements. South Africa and the countries of North Africa offer the greatest potential to expand market access. The EU has already completely opened its markets to most sub-Saharan countries. The respective policy instruments for trade and migration need to be better coordinated in order to reduce the contradictions between them and to address justified concerns about uncontrolled immigration.

The European Union (EU) was instrumental in successfully negotiating the Paris Agreement in 2015 and is now seeking a rapid international implementation. To this end, climate policy should be brought into line with as many foreign policies as possible, including trade policy. Free trade in environmental goods or the application of national emission standards to traded goods can accelerate climate protection globally. The legal support for this agenda through the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its dispute settlement bodies will merely be a longer-term option. Therefore, the EU and its member states should engage on two fronts in particular. Firstly, the fora of the United Nations (UN) and the WTO should make the links between the two policy areas even more transparent. Secondly, the EU can operationalise its regional free trade agreements as a lever to push for the implementation of climate policies in its partner countries. In particular, the EU should review existing trade agreements for their "climate friendliness". If the EU succeeds in redesigning its external relations at this interface, it can both enhance its climate policy performance and become more proactive in trade policy. (Autorenreferat)

Since the Treaty of Lisbon, trade policy has become an explicit part of the EU's external policy and integrated into the general framework of the EU´s external policy, but must also be in conformity with internal policies. Thus, trade policy is subject to a requirement of multiple coherence. Beyond constitutional obligations, other drivers work for the inclusion of non-genuine commercial policy objectives in trade policy, such as the orientation of contemporary trade politics towards the behind the border issues of national regulation, so that trade policy became closely intertwined with domestic regulatory policy. Therefore the actors primarily responsible for legislation, i.e. parliaments, advocate for their extended participation in determining trade policy, and rightly so for reasons of transparency, control and political inclusiveness. Parliaments thus become actors of respect for and positive consideration of non-commercial policy objectives in trade policy, which applies as well to the European Parliament (EP). Hence, an institutional design of policy formulation cycles and decision-making in EU trade policy that strives for better coherence of trade concerns with NTPOs must focus on strengthening the influence of the EP and improve its participatory rights in decision-making and its control and monitoring mechanisms. Consequently, the present paper derives proposals for improving EP´s monitoring mechanisms for the benefit of non-trade policy objectives (NTPOs) in trade policy from an analysis of weaknesses in the negotiation and implementation stage of trade policy.

We investigate the relationship between international trade and product quality using the EU food policy on Geographical Indications (GIs). Building on the quality sorting model proposed by Crozet et al. (2012), we derive three predictions about the relationship between the EU quality policy and different trade margins (extensive and intensive) as well as firms export prices. To test these predictions, we create a new dataset that collects country information on GIs and bilateral trade flows during the period 1996-2014, at HS 6-digit level. We empirically test the theoretical model through Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimation procedure on panel data. The main results show that GIs affect trade but differently, depending on whether GIs are produced in the exporter or importer country. In particular, the presence of GIs in the exporter country seems to exert a pro-competitive effect, while when registered only in the importer country, GIs act as an anti-competitive measure.

Handelsabkommen können langfristig zu Entwicklung und damit zur Bekämpfung von Fluchtursachen beitragen - wenn sie dezidiert auf nachhaltige Entwicklung und echte Marktöffnung hin gestaltet sind. Neuere Theorien und Empirie zeigen, dass der Zusammenhang zwischen Handel und Migration äußerst komplex ist. Vielfach spielen andere Fak­toren (wie Kriege, Wirtschaftskrisen etc.) für Wanderungsbewegungen eine größere Rolle als Handelspolitik und ‑abkommen. Nur eines ist eindeutig: Migration wirkt sich immer positiv auf Handelsströme aus. Umgekehrt beeinflussen Handelsabkommen Migration mal positiv, mal negativ: Führen sie zu einer Steigerung des Pro-Kopf-Einkommens, können sie kurzfristig Migration sogar anheizen. Denn erst ab einem bestimmten Einkommensniveau sind Menschen zur Auswanderung überhaupt in der Lage. In Handelsabkommen lassen sich aber - im Bereich der Dienstleistungen - legale Möglichkeiten der Migration einräumen, was den Anreiz zu illegaler Migration mindert. Das Thema ist erst recht für die EU von Bedeutung, die sich künftig mit dem Problem des Arbeitskräftemangels in den alternden Gesellschaften ihrer Mitgliedstaaten konfrontiert sieht. Ökologische und soziale Aspekte des Handelns und Wirtschaftens kön­nen in allen Freihandelsabkommen ausgebaut werden. Spielraum für eine Erweiterung des Marktzugangs besteht vor allem gegenüber Ländern des nördlichen Afrika und Südafrika. Für die meisten Länder südlich der Sahara hat die EU ihren Markt bereits vollständig geöffnet. Um Widersprüche zwischen Handels- und Migrationspolitik abbauen und berechtigten Sorgen vor unkontrollierter Zuwanderung begegnen zu kön­nen, sind die Instrumente aus beiden Politikbereichen besser aufeinander abzustimmen. (Autorenreferat)