scholarly journals MERCOSUR AND THE EU: THE FALSE MIRROR

Author(s):  
Detlef Nolte ◽  
Clarissa Correa Ribeiro Neto

Abstract The relations with the European Union (EU) began almost with the Mercosur’s creation. After signing a first framework agreement in 1995, the EU and Mercosur began negotiating a comprehensive interregional partnership with a free trade agreement since 1999. Negotiations were conducted with ups and downs, suspended, and resumed over a period of more than 20 years, and up to Mercosur’s 30th anniversary there is still no free trade agreement ratified with the EU. Based on the broad literature on the relations between the EU and Mercosur (both by European and Latin American authors) and on the analysis of official documents and declarations from the EU and Mercosur, this paper proposes some explanations as to why these negotiations have progressed so slowly and faced so many obstacles.

2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-32
Author(s):  
Rumiana Yotova

ON 16 May 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its Opinion 2/15 concerning the competence of the EU to conclude the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore (EUSFTA) (ECLI:EU:C:2017:376). The Opinion was requested by the Commission which argued, with the support of the European Parliament (EP), that the EU had exclusive competence to conclude the EUSFTA. The Council and 25 of the Member States countered that the EUSFTA should be concluded as a mixed agreement – that is, by the EU and each of its members – because some of its provisions fell under the shared competence of the organisation or the competence of the Member States alone.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-222
Author(s):  
Heidi Stockhaus

The new free trade agreement with the European Union will bring Vietnam’s economic integration to a new level once it enters into force. In the past, the associated economic growth has led to environmental deterioration due to inappropriate regulations and poor enforcement. Currently, environmental problems are visible everywhere and attract the attention of citizens as well as lawmakers. The new free trade agreement establishes a framework for sustainable development in the context of trade and investment. The relevant provisions aim to maintain Vietnam’s right to regulate for the targeted protection level, require the country to take measures to mitigate the pressure on the environment, and open the door for cooperation with the European Union. However, it remains to be seen, whether these provisions balance the risks associated with the increase in trade and investment through the free trade agreement.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256242
Author(s):  
Julieth P. Cubillos T. ◽  
Béla Soltész ◽  
László Vasa

Generally, research and studies about commodities focus on price trends, analysis in terms of international competitiveness, market position structure, rate of net exports, market share, and concentration index. This paper has developed an analysis of the most influential agricultural commodities traded from Colombia to European Union, which are bananas, coffee, and palm oil. Analyzing the economic and commercial effects in two traditional agricultural commodities from Colombia (bananas and coffee) with the rise of palm oil as a commodity in the trade relation with its partner; the European Union. The structure draws from the overview of general aspects and the behavior of Colombian foreign trade, as diversification of export products and trade partners, to focus on the characteristics of the trade relationship between the European Union and Colombia. The aim is analyze the proportional relation between bananas, coffee, and palm oil exported to the EU, according to three indicators, the volume of production, exports share, and trade value, from 2008 until 2019, identifying the trends before and after the implementation of the free trade agreement. Finally, with the coefficient correlation, determine the agricultural commodity that has the strongest and positive relationship with the total agricultural exports value from Colombia to the European Union.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-36
Author(s):  
Anis Kacem

Tunisia has signed a free trade agreement with the European Union in 1996, which provides for the reduction of tariff barriers between Tunisia and the EU. In this article, we aim to know and test whether the similarity of the institutional framework has to stimulate international trade between Tunisia and the European Union. In this context, we built a variable called “Institutional distance” to valid the institutional dimension of international trade, near borders effects reported in the literature. To this end, a gravity model was used initially (Tunisia and 21 European countries). Secondly, the estimate shows the existence of spatial autocorrelation. The latter has been corrected using spatial econometrics. The results show that the geographical distance remains more important than the institutions in this type of agreement between north and south shores of the Mediterranean.


IG ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-317
Author(s):  
Mariano Barbato

The talks that have been resumed for reaching a free trade agreement between the European Union and India have a good chance for success. Both partners, especially India, have to achieve new economic dynamics in order to be able to face the challenge posed by China. This decisive reason is supported by Brexit, the pandemic and the climate crisis, which also spark an exogenous, geostrategic dynamic that gives new impetus to the paralyzed liberal paradigm of free trade. Taken together, it is likely that exogenous geostrategic factors realign the endogenous economic factors and thus promote a positive outcome despite the ongoing weakness of liberal free trade ideas.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 858-889
Author(s):  
Mahdev Mohan

Abstract Querying Poulsen’s view that some States negotiate investment treaties in ‘bounded’ rational ways, this article focuses on how the recently concluded European Union-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) illustrates the evolution of Singapore’s treaty practice. Singapore has abandoned the ‘old’, and has joined the bandwagon of next-generation FTAs; yet, shrewdly, it is not fully convinced about the ‘new’ either. For example, the EUSFTA does not include a most-favoured nation clause, and does not commit to an appeals mechanism, unlike its Canadian and Vietnamese counterparts. Singapore’s caution appears to be motivated by a pragmatic desire to avoid the pitfalls that these provisions could bring with them, as Investor-State arbitration (ISA) jurisprudence demonstrates, and to study the implications of a recent decision by the EU’s highest court regarding the FTA. Indeed, that shows that the EU itself is now equally wary of the ISA regime removing disputes from the jurisdiction of national courts.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 865-884
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Weiß ◽  
Cornelia Furculita

Abstract Considering the new focus of the European Union (EU) trade policy on strengthening the enforcement of trade rules, the article presents the proposed amendments to the EU Trade Enforcement Regulation 654/2014. It analyzes the EU Commission proposal and the amendments suggested by the European Parliament Committee on International Trade (INTA), in particular with regard to uncooperative third parties and the provision of immediate countermeasures. The amendments will be assessed in view of their legality under World Trade Organization (WTO), Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and general international law and in view of their political implications for the EU’s multilateralist stance. Finally, the opportunity to amend Regulation 654/2014 to use it for the enforcement of FTA trade and sustainable development chapters will be explored. The analysis shows that the shift towards more effective enforcement should be pursued with due care for respecting existing international legal commitments and with more caution to multilateralism.


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