Meklēt
Recent threats in the Red Sea: Economic impact on the region and on the EU
Since mid-November 2023, the Iran-backed Houthi militia, which controls large parts of Yemen, has attacked numerous Western commercial ships near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea. In response, major shipping companies have temporarily suspended Suez transits and diverted their trade. This diversion coincides with decreasing freight in another maritime chokepoint, the Panama Canal, provoked by lowered water levels. Rounding South Africa via the Cape of Good Hope is the shortest alternative ...
Gender mainstreaming in EU trade agreements
International trade is not gender neutral. Both inside and outside Europe, trade liberalisation has gender differentiated impacts, stemming from women and men's unequal access to resources and their different positions on labour markets, in households and in society. The challenge for EU policy makers is therefore to ensure that both women and men in the EU and partner countries enjoy gains from trade agreements and are protected from negative impacts and, more broadly, that EU trade policy contributes ...
Harmonising transfer pricing rules within the EU
The pricing of goods and services traded within a multinational group is known as 'transfer pricing'. The prices charged on such transactions affect the allocation of income among the different entities of the multinational group (and consequently, the taxable profits of each country). To ensure that transactions between group entities are priced in a way that reflects their fair market value – i.e. as if the transactions were made between independent entities – countries have put in place strict ...
Key Issues in the European Council - State of play in March 2024
This EPRS publication, 'Key issues in the European Council', which is updated every quarter to coincide with European Council meetings, seeks to provide an overview of the institution's activities on major EU issues. It analyses 12 broad policy areas, explaining the legal and political background, the main priorities and orientations defined by the European Council and the results of its involvement to date, as well as some of the future challenges in each policy field.
Research for PECH Committee - Policy options for strengthening the competitiveness of the EU fisheries and aquaculture sector
The EU fisheries and aquaculture products (FAPs) market is largely dependent on external producers. Some of the imports entering the EU market come from countries with lenient regulations. This study gives an overview on existing competitiveness indicators. It shows main trends in the EU’s FAPs supply through extra-EU imports and identifies the main internal and external factors affecting the sector’s competitiveness. The research presents four case studies and an assessment of options for adaptations ...
EU anti-coercion instrument
It is widely held that geopolitical tensions in the world are on the rise. One of the clear indicators of this phenomenon is the increasing use of economic tools for the pursuit of strategic and geopolitical goals. This can take the form of coercion used by one country against another through restrictions on trade or investment in order to interfere with their sovereign choices. In response to the EU and its Member States becoming the target of deliberate economic coercion in recent years, on 8 December ...
EU-US Trade and Technology Council
The EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) has met five times since 2021, aiming to boost transatlantic cooperation and alignment. The latest meeting on 30-31 January 2024 was a lower-key interim event paving the way for the next TTC in April. Experts see its usefulness, but call for reform of the TTC so that it can be permanent.
Research for the AGRI Committee - The dependency of the EU’s food system on inputs and their sources.
This study analyses the vulnerabilities of the EU food system regarding inputs, describing the tools to secure those inputs and make the EU less dependent on foreign suppliers. It provides recommendations for appropriate measures to increase the EU food system’s resilience to disruptions in trade flows and price increases of imported inputs.
Research for PECH Committee - Policy options for strengthening the competitiveness of the EU fisheries and aquaculture sector
The EU fisheries and aquaculture products (FAPs) market is largely dependent on external producers. Some of the imports entering the EU market come from countries with lenient regulations. This study gives an overview on existing competitiveness measures. It shows main trends in the EU’s FAPs supply through extra-EU imports and identifies the main internal and external factors affecting the sector’s competitiveness. The research presents four case studies and an assessment of options for adaptations ...
Establishing an EU customs data hub and an EU customs authority
Today's massive increase in trade volumes, combined with the need to do border checks for compliance with the growing number of EU standards and to stay abreast of the continuously evolving trade strategies, has put EU customs authorities under a lot of pressure. Concerns have been raised that the EU's customs union is burdened by an uneven level of digitalisation across Member States, suboptimal coordination between the national authorities and overall complexity. This situation creates high administrative ...