Past Events

The European Union is about to reform its biofuels policy. A proposal from the Commission is now addressed in the European Parliament, which will have its first plenary vote in September. What direction should the EU take when it is reforming its biofuels policy: should conventional biofuels be encouraged or discouraged? Could a concept like ILUC be established without creating perpetual problems of accuracy and fairness in the way ILUC emissions are estimated and used? And will the new proposals make EU policy more consistent with rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) – or will policy have to be changed after dispute(s) in the WTO?

A little more than a year ago, the Argentinean government introduced the bill to expropriate the controlling stake in energy firm YPF, which was owned by European firm Repsol. This expropriation is now subject to an investment-dispute settlement – plus a dispute with a U.S. company that has acquired parts of the expropriated assets – and it raises some general concerns about the political development of Argentina as well as EU’s trade and investment relations with Argentina. The legal structure for addressing investor-state dispute settlements leaves much to be desired. While the EU is about to establish a new policy for Bilateral Investment Treaties – and effectively negotiate such treaties in some current trade negotiations – the institutional arrangements for legal procedures and for collecting rewards are weak, especially if the loosing defendant is a government with little interest in complying with rulings against it.

The Centre and ECIPE, Europe's leading think-tank on international economy, are organising a roundtable entitled “Promoting broadband investment and sustaining competition – can both go hand in hand?” on forthcoming 5 June.

Will China, as some observers claim, rule the world in the 21st century? Is it inevitable that China will become a global economic leader? And will China carve out a corresponding role in security and military policy – even be on par with the United States?

Few companies have been able to exercise such an influence in foreign countries like Gazprom’s, Russia’s state-owned energy firm. But Gazprom’s standing in the European energy market is about to change profoundly. It can no longer control prices as it did in the past. The shale gas revolution and antitrust cases against Gazprom will force it to not only to reduce its prices but also change its coveted structure of long-term contracts. Gazprom has recently abandoned some its larger projects and new energy market competition will continue to erode its revenues.

The public healthcare sectors around Europe are under pressure to cut expenditures. At the same time, there has been an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the last decades. As one of the main risk factor behind chronic and non-communicable diseases such as type-2 diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases, the scenario of an ageing population affected by obesity is likely to increase the cost pressure on the healthcare systems.

A busy trade agenda lies ahead for the United States. After years of relative inactivity in the trade field, the U.S. is now seeking to anticipate events while engaging on several fronts. The on-going negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with South-east Asian and Latin American countries illustrate the so-called Asian pivot in current U.S. trade politics. At the same time, President Obama is also reaching out to Europe. Together, the U.S. and the EU are embarking on a major trade policy initiative as the launch of negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Agreement is likely to be imminent.

Is the entire world of central banks (but the European Central Bank) going off the rails – or are they deliberately moving in the direction of market monetarism: central banks that use other instruments than the interest rate to support demand and economic recovery by targeting the nominal gross domestic product?

The World Bank Regional Vice-Presidency for Middle East & North Africa (MENA) and The European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) invite you to a book launch and discussion event: From Political to Economic Awakening in the Arab World: The Path of Economic Integration

The competitiveness of EU manufacturing is increasingly dependent on services. Logistics, maintenance, consulting, financing and data processing are integral part of any competitive offering in technology, machinery, processing and consumer businesses. Efficient services consumed by the manufacturing companies in their daily operations are also an integral part of their competitiveness. Services provided and consumed by EU manufacturing contribute to a significant share of their incomes. Services have transformed the way goods are traded while digitalisation has turned many goods into services – a concept we call servicification.