France
France threatened on Monday to delay the swift start of EU-U.S. trade talks if its red lines on culture and farm produce are not respected.
Food safety, GMO cultivation and France’s cherished “cultural exception” for audiovisual services are non-negotiable areas in view of upcoming EU-US free trade talks, the French stressed. The message was apparently well received by the European Commission in Brussels.
France will support India on its negotiations with the EU on clinching a free trade agreement, President Francois Hollande said in New Delhi Thursday, stressing that French companies should have greater access to the Indian market as a result.
Le gouvernement sud-coréen réfute les allégations de la France, selon lesquelles le marché tricolore serait envahi de voitures produites en Corée.
French multinational Veolia has had an ICSID arbitration claim registered against the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Selon la Coordination rurale du Languedoc-Roussillon, le Parlement européen se révèle le dernier rempart des agriculteurs face à la libéralisation forcenée que veut appliquer la commission européenne.
Ecuador’s National Assembly has approved a request by President Rafael Correa to end bilateral investment-promotion and protection agreements with France and Sweden.
The Spanish agrarian organisation COAG is convinced that the impending EU-Moroccan agricultural trade liberalisation agreement could be illegal for implicitly including Western Sahara. COAG has now condemned French company Azura’s presence in the occupied territories.
French media conglomerate Vivendi (VIV.FR) Tuesday said the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, reaffirmed its original ruling and financial award in favour of the company in a long-running dispute with Argentina.
An arbitration tribunal constituted under the France-Dominican Republic Bilateral Investment Treaty released an award last week ruling on the jurisdictional objections raised by the Dominican Republic in a claim brought by TCW and its parent company.
Taubira dénonce sans détour le libéralisme tous azimuts dont les APE sont un des reflets. Pour elle, la politique économique européenne a rendu l’Afrique dépendante et les APE, dans leur formule actuelle, ne feront que perpétuer ces rapports inégaux. Si ce discours fait l’affaire de ceux qui se montrent sceptiques vis-à-vis de la nouvelle relation économique que l’Europe veut instaurer avec l’Afrique, il embarrasse à bien des égards Nicolas Sarkozy, le commanditaire du rapport.
La France et le Canada ont officiellement convenu mercredi d’appuyer ensemble le projet de partenariat économique canado-européen, dont le premier ministre québécois Jean Charest s’est fait le plus ardent promoteur.
France, the forthcoming holder of the European Union’s rotating presidency, has asked that the bloc display greater flexibility in talks aimed at reaching free trade accords with Africa.
As it prepares to assume the presidency of the European Union in July one of the main issues on France’s agenda will be the economic partnership agreements (EPAs). But with less than three months to go, France’s official position concerning EPAs is still surprisingly unclear.
Sarkozy said he hoped Morocco would play a "leading role" in a Mediterranean Union.
French media and telecoms group Vivendi said on Tuesday it had been awarded $105 million in compensation at the end of a decade-long dispute with Argentinian authorities about a former water concession.
The head of state is making his first trip outside of Europe to Algeria and Tunisia. Nicolas Sarkozy flies this morning to Algiers, where he will have a meeting and working lunch with the president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, before going to Tunis.
Foreign energy investors said on Friday that they warned the Dominican Republic it had to mend its crippled power sector months before filing a US$680 million (euro510 million) lawsuit against the country for lost electricity revenue.
France intends to target the Gulf, India, Asia and the Mediterranean basin in a push towards bilateral trade deals following the collapse of global free trade talks, Trade Minister Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday.
Government has finished Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (Bippas) negotiations with France, Italy and Indonesia, a move analysts say gives a glimmer of hope to other countries whose nationals lost their agro-ventures during the land reform programme.
