Presentation from Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder on ICS

Regulatory cooperation in CETA potentially has profound implications. It is part of a broaderinternational effort by the rich countries and their companies to control domestic regulationthrough international trade agreements that override domestic laws. In CETA, regulatorycooperation in principle covers a vast area, both goods and services, trade but also investment.

The European Union is currently negotiating a number of trade agreements, including most notably the infamous TTIP with the US and – a bit less in the centre of public attention – the plurilateral TiSA. While negotiations on TTIP and TiSA are ongoing, the CETA negotiations have been finished in August 2014, leading to the official publication of the draft agreement in September 2014. While the agreement is not yet binding under international law, it offers a solid starting point for evaluating potential effects on the provision of public services.

In late 2016, a decision will be made by the Council of the European Union whether tolaunch the ratification process of the free trade agreement between the EU and Canada(CETA). The European Commission (EC) is promoting the agreement with the prospects ofmore trade, stronger economic relations and job creation. However, studies on theeconomic impact of CETA report only marginal effects on GDP of 0.03% to 0.08% forthe whole of the EU. In other words, CETA is expected to generate a one-time income effectof around 20 EUR per EU citizen after a 10 years implementation period.

Wenn das Vereinigte Königreich aus der EU austritt, wäre es das erste Mal, dass ein Mitgliedstaat die Union verlässt, und ein Zeichen dafür, dass die europäische Integration kein unumkehrbarer Prozess ist. Vor diesem Hintergrund bietet die Sonderausgabe des infobrief eu & international der AK Wien zum Thema einen kompakten ersten Überblick. Unter dem Titel "BREXIT - Wie weiter in Europa?" beschäftigen wir uns mit den Hintergründen des Referendumsergebnisses in Großbritannien und dessen möglichen Auswirkungen.

For European citizens it is crucial that decision-making in the EU is transparent and that it is possible to track which lobbyists and interest groups have influenced the decision-making process.

After the European institutions had adopted an automatic exchange of information between the tax authorities of the Member States within only a few months, now the second part of the Anti Tax Avoidance Package of the European Commission came to the vote. The European Parliament had finalised its report on this Directive over the past weeks already; however, the final decision in respect of tax issues depends on the Council of the European Union.

Will Europe be able to retain a strong industrial base or will hundreds of thousands of jobs be lost because of unfair practices and dumping measures? This question is suddenly at the centre of the debate within the EU, not least in connection with the planned market economy status for China. Why does the USA succeed in protecting their industry against unfair competition and why does the EU fail?

The impact of international trade agreements on public services has been a controversialsubject for a number of years. Generally, the obligations of trade agreements have thepotential to limit the ability of governments to choose freely between different regulatoryinstruments and techniques for the organisation and provision of services considered to beessential for the general public such as network communications, energy and waterdistribution, education, health and social services.