Finance, Trade & (Digital) Internal Market
The conclusion of negotiations on the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) has been heralded as both a significant win for the EU and been criticized for threatening transatlantic relations and its tradition of upholding values-based trade. China’s unique and multi-faceted relationship with the EU as a negotiating partner, an economic competitor and a systemic rival are reflected in the nearly insurmountable challenges of establishing such an agreement. […]
On February 5, 2020, the District Court of the Hague ruled that SyRI, or Systeem Risico Indicatie (System Risk Indicator), could no longer be used in low-income Dutch neighborhoods to flag individuals more likely to commit benefits fraud. […]
In a late-July post on PfEU, my colleague and fellow author Puneeth Parimisetty discussed the alleged dilemma that comes along with so-called “Coronabonds”, a debt instrument given out by the European Commission to counter the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the European Union. […]
After months of tension and four days of intensive negotiations, the EU Member States came to a deal on the multiannual financial framework (MFF), and a coronavirus recovery package. The conflict centered around one of the most contentious questions in Europe: could the European Monetary Union be joined by a public debt union? […]
The collapse of Iceland’s banking system began the European sovereign debt crisis of 2008, which peaked in 2010 and continued till late 2012. This crisis caused significant political turmoil and an enormous economic recession within the European Union. The eurozone crisis of 2008 also initiated the debate on the issuance of bonds without borders called “Eurobonds”. […]
The EU-Mexico Trade Agreement recently concluded on April 28th after four years of negotiations. This new agreement is the update of a previous one completed between the EU and Mexico in 2000, the EU-Mexico Global Agreement. The necessity to replace the old agreement is justified by two reasons, namely the importance to include within the document aspects which go beyond trade and the need to regulate a quantity of trade exchanges that has tripled in the last nineteen years. […]
In 2015, at the UN General Assembly, world leaders signed up to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), representing a roadmap to peace and prosperity for people and planet, now and in the future. […]
When the coronavirus began to spread internationally after first emerging in Wuhan, China in December 2019, governments worldwide immediately started to implement various technologies aimed at tracking, diagnosing, and, ultimately, stopping the virus. […]
Two weeks ago, we posted a detailed analysis of the coronavirus’ economic impact in which we demonstrated that the pandemic has caused a major exogenous supply-demand shock. This discussion included an exploration of whether the European Central Bank (ECB) should intervene. […]
The pandemic we are currently experiencing has had a strong impact on numerous countries around the world. The twenty-seven EU Member States are no exception. The European Union is currently trying to respond to the internal crisis as a result of COVID-19, mainly by providing instruments to combat the economic recession that has followed in wake of the pandemic. […]
In the 21st century the world has witnessed five pandemics, including H1N1 in 2009, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002, and most recently COVID-19. Evidence suggests that the likelihood of pandemics will only continue to increase due to globalization, urbanization, changes in land use, and greater exploitation of the natural environment. […]
As of May 6, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 3.7 million confirmed cases and 259,000 deaths worldwide. Europe has become one of the epicenters of the outbreak, with several European Union (EU) Member States being hit particularly hard. A cross-border threat to public health and safety with significant socioeconomic consequences, the pandemic poses a substantial challenge to the EU. […]
The Coronavirus-crisis is hitting the world in an unprecedented manner, while two long-standing and equally alarming global predicaments are underway: climate change and biodiversity loss. In this context, a group of Environmental Ministers is calling for the EU and its Member States to mobilise efforts towards a joint environmental and economic recovery plan, arguing that EU laws, in this sense, might still be equipped with the right blueprints. […]
The digitization of healthcare in the European Union is proceeding at a brisk pace but is also fraught with challenges. The European Commission is seeking to provide EU citizens with comprehensive, and easily accessible digital healthcare through its Digital Single Market strategy. The creation of the Digital Single Market will involve the integration of countless healthcare tools, insurance companies, and national systems which are at varying stages of digital capacity. […]
In June 2019 the EU concluded a Trade and Investment protection Agreement with Vietnam. The signature came three years and a half after the end of the negotiations, in 2015.
The Agreement is one of the numerous trade agreements recently negotiated and concluded by the EU. Among these, the CETA, the Agreement between EU and Canada and the EU-Japan Economic partnership. […]