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Events

2022/10/05
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2022/06/23
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2022/06/23
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 436 votes to 69, with 71 abstentions, a resolution on the future of EU international investment policy.

The EU is a global leader in investment policy reform. Significant reform of investment policy has been undertaken at European and international level since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, at the insistence and with the support of Parliament. The EU has launched and concluded IIAs with partner countries, reformed investment protection provisions, replaced investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) with the investment court system (ICS), launched multilateral negotiations for an investment court, proposed legislation to regulate foreign subsidies, and adopted legislation for the screening of inward foreign direct investment. While these developments are significant steps in the right direction for a modernised and sustainable investment policy, Parliament stated that the EU’s international investment policy reform path needs to be further reformed and reinforced in order to address the current challenges.

The resolution underlined that investment can and should have a positive impact on sustainable economic growth, job creation and sustainable development, and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this respect, the Commission should review the EU’s investment policy to ensure consistency with the European Green Deal and the SDGs, as well as with EU values, including respect for human rights and the social standards as defined by the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Parliament considered that international investment agreements (IIAs) should facilitate green, gender-sensitive and inclusive sustainable investments, adequately protect investors, contribute to the resilience of the single market while safeguarding policy space in host states, and encourage the exchange of best practices, skills and know-how, in accordance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for multinational enterprises on corporate social responsibility.

Members considered that EU companies need adequate protection for their investments abroad. Protected investments should not include speculative forms of investment, financial instruments or portfolio investments that can be held for speculative purposes. Moreover, financial instruments which can be withdrawn at any time do not require protection. The Commission is asked to continue its endeavours to improve the definition of protected investments so as to make sure that IIAs protect only investments that make a substantial commitment of capital or other resources for a minimum number of years, for which there is an assumption of risk and expectation of profit.

The EU’s investment policy should also help developing countries, notably African countries, to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and to reduce the funding gap to achieve the SDGs.

Market access

According to Parliament, recent investment agreements have a positive focus on market access and investment liberalisation and seek the removal of barriers to the establishment and operation of EU investors in foreign markets. The Commission should seek conditions for EU investors abroad that reflect the level of openness that foreign investors enjoy in the EU . IIAs should safeguard the ability of states to regulate foreign investments in their jurisdiction. Members also called on the Commission to monitor barriers to the establishment and operation of EU investors in foreign markets, including discriminatory practices. The Commission is urged to strictly protect the policy spaces of the EU and the Member States, notably on energy, agriculture, fisheries, audiovisual, telecommunication and digital issues, as well as public services, when liberalising investments.

Investment facilitation

Stressing that investment facilitation can contribute to unlocking investment opportunities in developing countries, Parliament called on the Commission to support developing countries in improving the investment climate in their jurisdiction, both through development cooperation tools and through bilateral agreements.

The Commission and the Member States should engage in negotiations at WTO level with a view to tackling distortions of competition, particularly in the area of industrial subsidies.

Compatibility of IIAs with EU priorities

The resolution noted that an increasing number of legal proceedings before investment tribunals target environmental measures . Members deplored the fact that various countries, including the Member States, are being sued in relation to policies on climate, the phasing out of fossil fuels, or the just transition.

The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is the most litigated investment agreement in the world today. Parliament supports the efforts to modernise the ECT and the EU’s position to exclude protection for most fossil fuel investments. It believes, however, that the EU position should not grant protection to investments in economic activities considered to be ‘significantly harmful’ according to EU law, and that the timeframe for phasing out the protection of existing investments in fossil fuels should be significantly shortened in order not to undermine the achievement of the EU’s climate objectives.

IIA ratification

Parliament pointed out that delays to Member States’ ratification of EU IIAs delay the replacement of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with more transparent and modern provisions that protect equally all EU investors in third countries. It called on the Member States to ratify the concluded EU investment agreements.

Documents
2022/06/22
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2022/05/30
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
Documents
2022/05/30
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Documents
2022/05/16
   EP - Vote in committee
2022/03/29
   EP - Committee opinion
Documents
2022/03/18
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2022/02/04
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2021/12/16
   EP - BITEAU Benoît (Verts/ALE) appointed as rapporteur in DEVE
2021/10/07
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2021/07/14
   EP - CAVAZZINI Anna (Verts/ALE) appointed as rapporteur in INTA

Documents

Votes

Avenir de la politique de l’Union en matière d’investissements internationaux - Future of EU international investment policy - Die Zukunft der Auslandsinvestitionspolitik der EU - A9-0166/2022 - Anna Cavazzini - Proposition de résolution #

2022/06/23 Outcome: +: 436, 0: 71, -: 69
DE ES FR RO PL NL IT PT BE IE EL BG AT DK SE SK LT CZ CY HR LU FI SI MT LV EE HU
Total
81
47
59
26
46
28
64
20
18
12
17
11
16
13
19
12
8
16
6
10
6
10
5
5
4
4
13
icon: PPE PPE
142

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1
2

Luxembourg PPE

2

Finland PPE

1

Malta PPE

For (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
116

Greece S&D

For (1)

1

Bulgaria S&D

For (1)

1

Slovakia S&D

For (1)

1

Lithuania S&D

For (1)

1

Czechia S&D

For (1)

1

Cyprus S&D

2

Croatia S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Finland S&D

1

Latvia S&D

2

Estonia S&D

2
icon: Renew Renew
91

Poland Renew

1

Italy Renew

3

Ireland Renew

2

Greece Renew

1

Austria Renew

For (1)

1
3

Lithuania Renew

1

Croatia Renew

For (1)

1

Luxembourg Renew

2

Finland Renew

2

Slovenia Renew

For (1)

1

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1

Estonia Renew

2

Hungary Renew

2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
66

Spain Verts/ALE

2

Poland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Austria Verts/ALE

3

Denmark Verts/ALE

1

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Lithuania Verts/ALE

2

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Finland Verts/ALE

3
icon: The Left The Left
32

Germany The Left

3

Netherlands The Left

For (1)

1

Portugal The Left

4

Belgium The Left

For (1)

1

Denmark The Left

1

Sweden The Left

For (1)

1

Cyprus The Left

2

Finland The Left

For (1)

1
icon: NI NI
28

Germany NI

Abstain (1)

2

France NI

Against (1)

1

Slovakia NI

Against (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Croatia NI

2

Latvia NI

1
icon: ECR ECR
50

Germany ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Romania ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Netherlands ECR

Against (1)

4

Belgium ECR

2

Bulgaria ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Sweden ECR

2

Slovakia ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Croatia ECR

Against (1)

1
icon: ID ID
51

Netherlands ID

Against (1)

1

Belgium ID

2

Austria ID

3

Denmark ID

Against (1)

1

Czechia ID

Against (1)

1

Finland ID

2
AmendmentsDossier
237 2021/2176(INI)
2022/02/15 DEVE 70 amendments...
source: 719.629
2022/03/17 INTA 167 amendments...
source: 729.936

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

docs/4
date
2022-10-05T00:00:00
docs
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type
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Decision by Parliament
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2022-06-23T00:00:00
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2022-06-23T00:00:00
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Decision by Parliament
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title: T9-0268/2022
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Old
Awaiting Parliament's vote
New
Procedure completed
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Debate in Parliament
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  • date: 2022-06-22T00:00:00 title: Debate in plenary scheduled
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Old
Indicative plenary sitting date
New
Debate in plenary scheduled
docs/3
date
2022-05-30T00:00:00
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Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
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EP
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  • title: A9-0166/2022
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2022-05-30T00:00:00
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Committee report tabled for plenary
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EP
events/2
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2022-05-30T00:00:00
type
Committee report tabled for plenary
body
EP
events/2
date
2022-05-30T00:00:00
type
Committee report tabled for plenary
body
EP
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Awaiting committee decision
New
Awaiting Parliament's vote
events/1
date
2022-05-16T00:00:00
type
Vote in committee
body
EP
forecasts/0
date
2022-05-16T00:00:00
title
Vote scheduled in committee
docs/1/docs/0/url
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/INTA-AM-729936_EN.html
docs/2/docs/0/url
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/DEVE-AD-704583_EN.html
docs/2
date
2022-03-29T00:00:00
docs
title: PE704.583
committee
DEVE
type
Committee opinion
body
EP
docs/1/date
Old
2022-03-17T00:00:00
New
2022-03-18T00:00:00
docs/1
date
2022-03-17T00:00:00
docs
title: PE729.936
type
Amendments tabled in committee
body
EP
docs/0/docs/0/url
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/INTA-PR-704874_EN.html
committees/0/shadows
  • name: HÜBNER Danuta Maria group: Group of European People's Party abbr: EPP
  • name: RODRÍGUEZ-PIÑERO Inma group: Group of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats abbr: S&D
  • name: VEDRENNE Marie-Pierre group: Renew Europe group abbr: Renew
  • name: HOOGEVEEN Michiel group: European Conservatives and Reformists Group abbr: ECR
  • name: MAUREL Emmanuel group: The Left group in the European Parliament - GUE/NGL abbr: GUE/NGL
docs
  • date: 2022-02-04T00:00:00 docs: title: PE704.874 type: Committee draft report body: EP
forecasts/0/date
Old
2022-04-21T00:00:00
New
2022-05-16T00:00:00
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date
2022-06-22T00:00:00
title
Indicative plenary sitting date
committees/1/rapporteur
  • name: BITEAU Benoît date: 2021-12-16T00:00:00 group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance abbr: Verts/ALE
committees/0/rapporteur
  • name: CAVAZZINI Anna date: 2021-07-14T00:00:00 group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance abbr: Verts/ALE
forecasts
  • date: 2022-04-21T00:00:00 title: Vote scheduled in committee