Tag: European Union

European Union: Progress on the Choice of Court Convention

The headline of Friday’s press release was a bit too much, for my taste: “Choice of Court Convention: EU businesses receive a major boost for international trade”, the EU Commission claimed. EU Justice Commissioner Martine Reicherts hailed the Court Convention as “a great example of how justice policy serves to boost economic growth and job creation by creating the right conditions for European businesses to flourish in their trading with non-European Partners.”

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Upper Chamber of German Parliament Against Investment Arbitration in US/EU TTIP

In today‘s session, the Upper Chamber (Bundesrat) of the German parliament discussed the state of the current negotiations of a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)  between the European Union and the United States. In that context, several federal states tabled a resolution, which spoke out against the use of investment arbitration in the treaty. The resolution was adopted. In its relevant part, it reads as follows: Read More

Hot Topics in Legal Policy: EU Commissioner for Justice Reding on Class Actions in Europe – 2012 German Jurists Forums (Deutscher Juristentag)

Viviane Reding, the Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Justice, spoke about “Europe, the Law, and the German legal profession: a comment from Luxembourg” at last week’s German Jurists Forum in Munich (see my earlier post on the Forum). The focus of her speech was on the German legal debate on the Euro rescue plans – that’s somewhat off topic in this blog, as important as it is, and we leave it to verfassungsblog.de and others to comment upon. But Viviane Reding devoted a couple of sentences to more mundane issues, such as the plans for group or class actions in the European Union. Here’s what she had to say: Read More