Description

Two events are likely to shape trade and investment relations between the United Kingdom and the European Union and the rest of the world: Brexit and the forthcoming Opinion of the European Court of Justice, Opinion 2/15 on the EU/Singapore Free Trade Agreement. On Brexit, there has been plenty of noise about the British domestic politics surrounding it and the new found freedom of the United Kingdom to negotiate trade and investment deals with non EU States. If it now looks likely that the British executive will have quite a free hand in negotiations, the content of deals with other States will depend, for both trade and investment reasons, on the quality of deal secured with the EU. What are the realistic possibilities here? With regard to the EU itself, the Advocate General has now stated that it can negotiate trade and foreign direct investment relations alone but will need the consent of all 27 member States for many ofthe issues surrounding these questions, notably social and environmental ones. What will this mean for the EU as a future trading partner and investment location?

About the Speaker
Damian Chalmers is Professor of EU Law at the National University of Singapore and the London School of Economics and Political Science. He was Head of the latter’s European Institute and the Jean Monnet Centre. He has held Visiting Appointments at NYU, Michigan, Central European University, College of Europe, Trento, Copenhagen, EUI, Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Instituto de Empresa, Institute of Advanced Studies Vienna, and Fudan (PRC). He is a Senior Fellow on the ESRC ‘UK in a Changing
Europe’ programme, the project organised by the UK Research Councils to advise public debate on Brexit. His proposals are recognised as having informed both the central plank of the UK Government’s negotiating position in the deal with the EU which led to the EU referendum and the Scottish Government’s proposal for differential relations from the rest of the UK with the EU. He was co-editor of the European Law Review for six years. His recent books are (with G. Davies & G. Mont) European Union Law (2014, 3rd Edition CUP) (with A. Arnull (eds)) Oxford Handbook of EU Law (2016, OUP, Oxford) and with M. Jachtenfuchs and C. Joerges (eds) The End of the Eurocrats’ Dream: Adjusting to European Diversity (2016, CUP, Cambridge).