Given the importance of trade for the EU in such a globalised world and the recent developments in this respect, this year’s trade policy course has been extended in length and widened in scope: in addition to EU trade law and WTO, participants are also offered a comprehensive analysis of the types of bilateral and plurilateral trade agreements – with a special focus on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the US (TTIP).
In fact, although the WTO is still the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations, the EU has been negotiating for multiple bilateral trade agreements. Of note is the TTIP, which is the most contentious and heavily discussed trade agreement in the EU and its member states. This is because it goes beyond a simple Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and requires deeper convergence between the two blocks at regulatory level. Amongst other types of criticism, this has also led to concerns linked to health, food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic standards, to mention just a few.
All this – the TTIP negotiations, regulatory convergence, and the agreement’s controversy – will be addressed in this fifth edition of the trade policy course and will be placed within a wider context of EU trade policy and the WTO. Additionally, there will be case-studies of other EU trade deals – such as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada – and the attention that the EU and the US are giving to Asia, vis-à-vis the growing “threat” of China, will be examined too.
The training course is being organised by the College of Europe Development Office and will run from 24 to 27 October in Bruges.
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