Il ruolo degli Stati membri negli accordi di libero scambio di nuova generazione dell'Unione europea

Since 2006, in the absence of progresses in the WTO Doha Round, the European Union has adopted a predominantly bilateral approach in its trade policy. In line with this, the European Commission elaborated an agenda of an ambitious new generation of bilateral free trade agreements with selected third Countries (as United States, Canada, Japan, and Asean Countries). However, these agreements (as the FTA with Asean Countries, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada and the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership with United States), showed some weakness connected with their mixed nature. The European Commission reacted by splitting the agreements in two separate parts: one covering issues falling only within the EU’s exclusive competence, and another containing the provisions falling into the member States’ competence, thus limiting the role of the latter in international trade negotiations. At the same time the European Commission has opened a debate on the best architecture for EU free trade agreements and on legitimacy and inclusiveness of the adoption process.