Jared Angle – Page 2

The role of ISDS in contemporary EU trade agreements

Energy, European Parliament, Trade Agreements

By Jared Angle

BRUSSELS — Much of the recent debate over European Union trade negotiations, specifically regarding transatlantic trade agreements with Canada and the United States, has fixated on the inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement, commonly known as ISDS.

Incoming Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said Sept. 29 that the ISDS chapter of TTIP negotiations is currently frozen, and will be revisited at a later date.

Outgoing Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht initially stripped ISDS from TTIP negotiations due to German resistance to the legal mechanism, but he insists that ISDS is a crucial investment protection tool that belongs in a finalized version of TTIP, according to Martina Ferracane, a policy analyst at the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), a think tank based in Brussels.

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Commissioner-Designate Cecilia Malmström: Confirmation Hearing Highlights

European Commission, European Parliament, Euroscepticism, Trade Agreements

Members of the European Parliament, led by the Committee on International Trade, questioned Commissioner Cecilia Malmström (ALDE, Sweden) on her ability to serve as the EU’s 15^th trade commissioner during a two-and-a-half hour hearing on Sept. 29.

Malmström, 46, currently holds the Commission’s Home Affairs portfolio, and is expected to begin her second term in the Commission on Nov. 1.

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US, EU negotiators to meet for 7th round of TTIP talks

European Commission, Lawsuits and ECJ, Trade Agreements

By Jared Angle

American and European trade representatives will meet next week for a seventh round of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a prospective free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union.

The negotiations, which will take place outside Washington, are scheduled to last from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3, according to the European Commission.

The entrance to Berlaymont, the headquarters of the European Commission, in Brussels. Photo by Jared Angle.

The US is the EU’s largest trading partner; in 2011, the EU exported €250 billion in goods and services to the US and imported €187 billion.[1] With the tariff reductions and other market liberalization features in a prospective TTIP agreement, trade volume and job growth would increase significantly for both economies.

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NATO Sec Gen Rasmussen delivers final Washington address

Military and Security, Transatlantic Relations

New threats give alliance a new purpose

By Jared Angle

WASHINGTON –– New military and economic threats in Europe, Russia and the Middle East will reinvigorate the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to the military alliance’s top official.

Outgoing NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke on July 7 at the Atlantic Council, a foreign policy research institute, in one of his final addresses to American audiences before the 2014 NATO Summit in Wales.

NATO Secretary General Rasmussen speaks at the 2012 NATO Summit in Chicago. Photo by Jared Angle.

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Analysis of EU Energy Diversification and Reduction of Russian Dependency

Energy, Military and Security

By Jared Angle

Despite the lack of a cohesive energy policy encompassing all member states, the European Union has several options when it comes to seeking new energy alternatives to counteract Russia’s predatory ‘energy diplomacy’ of the past decade. Diversification of energy sources has sparked intense controversy in the EU, as strict regulations and public opposition have made several promising energy options unviable in a number of member states. While renewable energy technologies satisfy the concerns of European environmentalists, sources such as solar energy simply cannot meet the energy requirements of Europe’s densely populated countries, with current systems providing energy for less than three percent of households, according to a September 2013 press release by the European Commission. Although energy diversification is not universally popular, it has become increasingly clear since the mid-2000s that Europe must address the challenges presented by Russian energy policies and the current inadequacies of alternative energy infrastructures.

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US-EU trade deal to boost trans-Atlantic trade, investment

Trade Agreements

By Jared Angle

Americans import thousands of European products, including famous brands like Fiat, Ikea and Heineken that have become ubiquitous in daily American life. However, the trade of industrial goods, which makes up a large market share in the United States and European Union, can benefit from free trade under an upcoming agreement known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, also known as TTIP.

TTIP is a proposed U.S.-EU free trade agreement intended to bolster investment and increase movement of goods and services between the two regions, and is projected to generate additional income for the U.S. and the EU, according to Silvia Kofler, head of press and public diplomacy at the European Union Delegation to the United States.

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