Distinguished Essay: A Quiet Revolution—The Changing Nature of the EU’s Common Commercial Policy

Abstract

This paper assesses the development of the EU’s Common Commercial Policy (CCP) since the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty. It argues that we have witnessed a “quiet revolution” in EU trade policy. Three major changes are identified. First, the extension of the CCP to include trade in services, the commercial aspects of intellectual property and foreign direct investment. Second is the embedding of EU trade policy into the Union’s overall principles and objectives, providing a framework for the broad discretion left by the Treaty to trade policy-makers. Third is the change to the decision-making structures of trade policy. The Commission still plays a key strategic role, but the Commission’s key interlocutors now include the European Parliament as well as the Council. The European Parliament has the power to consent to—or to withhold consent from—trade agreements and has proved willing to use its power. Working together with a renewed political and public interest in trade policy, in the wake of several contentious agreements, this new dynamic has led to calls for, and significant progress towards, greater transparency in the negotiation of trade agreements.