European Union

The Delegation of Trade Authority in the EU Even though, for the past several decades, member states of the European Union (EU) have been derelict with their power to act as independent players in international trade negotiations, they have recently begun to recapture some of their lost trade sovereignty. (Kennett 1996) Neither the European Court of Justice 1994’s opinion, nor the 1997 formal reform of trade policy process at Amsterdam delegated full negotiating power to the Commission …showed first 75 words of 2433 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2433 total…by sectored concerns. Portgual, for instance opposed the Commision because of its handling of textile issues during the Uruguay Round. On the other side of the spectrum, irrespectively of their economic competitiveness in services, countries such as Italy, Belgium and Ireland, with traditional pro-integration stances, backed the Commission fixedly. These countries recognized that without the negotiating umbrella of the whole Community, they would always be at the mercy of the EU’s big trade partners