Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, ISDS and the Belgian Veto: A Warning of Failure for Future Trade Agreements with the EU?

摘要

The recent free trade negotiations between the EU and Canada have provided a cautionary tale for the future of international trade involving the EU. Investor-State dispute settlement (or 'ISDS') has been a contentious element of EU negotiations and has been supplanted in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (or 'CETA') by a new international investment court model. In the fall of 2016, the new investment court and regional politics involving Belgium became a flash point in the final stage of the signing of CETA. Although the Agreement was signed on 30 October 2016, the authors examine the question whether the continuing headwinds faced by CETA sends a message that all future trade agreements with the EU may experience similar problems.