Across The EUniverse – Number Eighteen

Trade features significantly in this first edition of Across the EUniverse for the year 2017. It cannot be otherwise. US President Trump has said that he will change US trade policy building barriers to market access and forcing US companies to manufacture at home. China President Xi has said that China promotes barrier free trade so long as the barriers are in third countries (not in China). The EU is in the process of reforming its trade defence instruments and digesting how a post Brexit world will look.

This change in trade is evidence of wider change that is taking place around us and which is likely to continue into 2017. There will be federal elections in Germany and national elections in France. If Italy gets to change its electoral law there may well be an election in Italy. Will the forces that backed President Trump in the US win in the EU as well. The country most likely to change is the Netherlands, once a bastion of openness but now toying with the idea of giving the most votes to an anti-Islam party.

In this issue we look at the legal debate concerning an Italian exit from the Euro; a comparison between Trump and Xi approach on the concept of trade; some consequences of the excessive length of court proceeding; we also examine the advantages of the new italian “rent to buy” agreement; as well as the Multilateral Investment Court; an overview of the service sector; a further examination of the trade consequences of Brexit and finally the advantages or disadvantages of enhancing the bilateral framework between EU and US in the field of energy.