A new generation of free trade agreements (NGFTAs) is at the forefront of the external economic action of the European Union (EU). Not many have been concluded yet, but several are provisionally applied or currently being negotiated. Their main purpose is to address and eliminate illegitimate non-tariff barriers to trade and investment. As such, they are likely to deeply interfere with several public policies. However, as its Trade for all communication indicates, the European Commission conceives these agreements as key instruments for the conduct of a comprehensive and balanced common commercial policy. In this regard, EU NGFTAs are supposed to allow the taking into consideration of non-economic interests and values, and to be consistent with the internal policies of the EU when being implemented.
To what extent is this really the case? The scientific aim of the workshop is to deepen the legal reflection generated by these international agreements by focusing on the way – if any – they comply with the consistency requirement of the EU’s external action, both with regard to its other strands and with the EU’s internal policies.
This four-day workshop will consist of a training school aiming to help young researchers and doctoral students to write and publish a paper. Each participant will send a draft paper that will be presented during the workshop and discussed by two senior academics playing a tutoring role. After the workshop, the young researcher will receive appropriate advice to finalise his/her paper. Depending on the quality of the paper and after review by key staff members of the network, the paper will be published online as part of a dedicated issue of the LAwTTIP working paper series.
More information can be found in the Call for Papers. The deadline for submissions is 1 April 2019.