Investment arbitration in the EU after Lisbon: Selected procedural and jurisdictional issues

Abstract

According to Article 207 (1) of the so-called Lisbon Treaty the European Union ("the EU”) has gained explicit exclusive competence with regard to Foreign Direct Investment ("FDI”). However, the very precise meaning of FDI and, as a consequence, the precise extension of such new EU competence remains unclear. This already has the potential of creating the surreal situation in which scholars and commentators have to take a position and argue about something which is left undefined by the legislator itself.