INTRA-EU INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS AND ARBITRATION: IS EUROPEAN COMMUNITY LAW AN OBSTACLE?

2009 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanno Wehland
Keyword(s):  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Member States ◽  
Unequal Treatment ◽  
Investment Protection ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Lack Of Control ◽  
Ec Law ◽  
Investment Agreements ◽  
The Eu ◽  
European Community Law

AbstractBilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) between Member States of the EU have long been all but non-existent. However, with the two most recent rounds of EU enlargement about 190 BITs have become intra-EU. This has not only raised doubts about the conformity of these BITs with EC law, but has also prompted some (including the European Commission) to question the admissibility of arbitral proceedings brought under these Treaties. The article assesses the mechanisms through which a conflict between intra-EU BITs and EC law can become relevant from an arbitration perspective. It then analyses the principal alleged inconsistencies between BIT provisions and EC law: differing substantive standards of investment protection, unequal treatment of investors from different Member States and the lack of control by the ECJ. The discussion of these issues in the light of the relevant EC Treaty provisions shows that EC law should not, in fact, be regarded as an obstacle to intra-EU investment arbitration.

Investment Arbitration and EU Law

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane KOKOTT ◽  
Christoph SOBOTTA
Keyword(s):  
International Agreements ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Investment Protection ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Substantial Investment ◽  
Investment Agreement ◽  
Judicial Protection ◽  
The Eu

AbstractInvestment arbitration is based on international agreements and operates in parallel to the EU legal and judicial system. Therefore conflicts between EU law and investment protection are possible. These may result from the substantial investment protection standards, but also from the operation of a parallel system of judicial protection. The EU law position on such conflicts will depend on whether the investment agreement was concluded between Member States, between Member States and other countries, or between the EU and other countries.

8. EU Enlargement and Wider Europe

2018 ◽  
pp. 167-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Sedelmeier ◽  
Graham Avery
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
European Neighbourhood Policy ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
European Model ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Eu

The EU has expanded many times and many countries still aspire to join. It has extended the prospect of membership to countries in the Balkans and Turkey and has developed a ‘neighbourhood’ policy towards other countries, some of which may want to join in the future. Enlargement illustrates the success of the European model of integration. It has also provided the EU with a powerful tool to influence domestic politics in would-be members. But enlargement also poses fundamental challenges. It has implications both for how the EU works (its structure and institutions) and for what it does (its policies). The chapter first compares ‘widening’ and ‘deepening’ before discussing enlargement as soft power. It then explains how the EU has expanded and why countries want to join. It also looks at prospective member states: the Balkan countries, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland. Finally, it examines the European Neighbourhood Policy.

The Future of Intra-EU Investment Arbitration: Intra-EU Investment Arbitration under the ECT post Achmea

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-177
Author(s):  
Sahra Arif
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Union Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
The Future ◽  
Energy Charter Treaty ◽  
Opposite View ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

The Achmea judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) found that arbitration clauses in bilateral investment treaties (BITS) between Member States of the European Union are incompatible with European Union law. Following this, Member States attempted to invoke this judgment in relation to similar intra-EU arbitrations under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). Tribunals established under the ECT have however generally rejected the applicability of the Achmea judgement. While the EU Commission and the majority of Member States concluded that this judgment also precludes intra-EU ect arbitrations, a few Member States held the opposite view. The future of intra-EU ECT arbitrations therefore seems fragile in the least. A closer analysis of the decisions of ECT Tribunals, and the relationship between obligations under European Union law and international law however argues that the future of such intra-EU ECT arbitrations is not as fragile as it may seem.

Poor governance, weak institutions will dog eastern EU

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Good Governance ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Euro Crisis ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Member States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
East European ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
The Eu

Subject Instability in eastern EU. Significance The EU has long reinforced Central-East European (CEE) member states with regulations and constraints. As it became absorbed in the euro-crisis and the nationalist surge, these countries felt less constrained and freer to act. Consequently, short-term or incoherent policy goals and elite-driven illiberal agendas are impeding good governance, anti-corruption efforts and further democratisation in some of CEE; none are exempt from government instability and rising nationalism. Impacts Instability in CEE is likely to discourage bold decisions on EU enlargement to North Macedonia and Albania. Economic malaise will make CEE governments less choosy regarding Chinese investments. An increasingly disenchanted public will be even more susceptible to internal and Russian disinformation campaigns.

scholarly journals A Quarter-century of the Weimar Triangle: in Context of Europe’s Regions

2016 ◽  
pp. 122-131
Author(s):  
A. Martynov
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Member States ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Interregional Cooperation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The article considers the two vectors of the European integration process: closer integration among the EU member states and regionalization of the EU countries according to the criteria of close neighbourhood or deep cooperation. The author traces  development trends of regional cooperation of the EU member states at different stages of development of international relations i.e. the impact of the EU enlargement on regionalization process, competition and confrontation with Russia, the  complications in the field of European integration due to the negative outcome of the Dutch referendum on  ratification of the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine, as well as the British referendum on withdrawal from the EU. It is stressed that  the interregional cooperation  is particularly important at this critical stage  of European integration.

scholarly journals Economic and Social Balance of 15 Years of Eastern Enlargement

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-38
Author(s):  
Béla Galgóczi
Keyword(s):  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Secondary Importance ◽  
Member States ◽  
New Member States ◽  
The Core ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
Market Focus ◽  
The Eu

The Eastern EU enlargement (2004, 2007, 2013) is still one of the success stories of the EU (and unprecedented in the world), but at the same time it is controversial and is perceived as controversial. One of the core problems has been its unbalanced character: the whole process had a clear `Single Market` focus and the values of a `Social Europe` were of secondary importance. Based on a neofunctionalist approach the paper discusses the integration of the new member states from the point of view of economic and income convergence. Along with a literature review, data on wages, productivity and output will be analysed to demonstrate that upward convergence of the poorer new member states towards the EU average had been stalled in wake of the 2009 crisis. The resulting cleavages put the core hypothesis of the neofunctionalist approach - that EU integration has a `direction` in terms of an upwards convergence - into question.

scholarly journals Influence of the EU enlargement on the agrarian foreign trade development in member states

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (No. 5) ◽  
pp. 233-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Svatoš ◽  
L. Smutka
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Development Trends ◽  
Member States ◽  
Territorial Structure ◽  
The Given ◽  
The Eu

The paper analyses the development of agrarian foreign trade of the EC/EU states in the period 1961–2006. The aim of the analysis is to evaluate the influence of the EC/EU member base enlargement on the development of the value and territorial structure of the Community agrarian trade. Additionally, the paper analyses the impacts of the accession of the particular countries on their own and the total agrarian trade of the Community with the aim to clarify the development trends which preceded the accession to the EC/EU and which subsequently appear after the accession of the given state to the Community. Development trends recorded in the case of all joined countries in the period 1973–2006 are compared and in the final part of the paper, the impacts of the enlargement of the EC/EU on the development of internal (intra) and external (extra) trade are summarised.

The Application of European Law in the New Member States: Several (Early) Predictions

2005 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zdeněk Kühn
Keyword(s):  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Future Application ◽  
European Law ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Probable Outcome ◽  
Domestic Law ◽  
The Eu

After the EU Enlargement of 2004, the law courts of the new Member States now fulfill a twofold role of applying both national and European law. The application of European law also entails the duty of judges to construe their own domestic law as close as possible with EU law, and, if that is not possible, the duty arises to set aside the domestic law found to be incompatible with European law. In consequence, developments in the next decade will test judges’ capacity for properly applying European law and this process will inevitably present a serious challenge to the Central European judicial systems. While evaluations can first be made no sooner than a few years after the EU Enlargement, there are important indications that can suggest the probable outcome of that challenge. This article briefly outlines the application of European law in those countries prior to EU Enlargement and then deals with the important factors which are likely to influence its future application in the new Member States.

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