16
Dec
2024
Watch
Conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the United Nations Convention on transparency in treaty-based investor-State arbitration (short presentation)
Mr President, Commissioner, what our rapporteur has presented to us is an extremely serious and sensitive subject because yes, as has been said here in the conclusions, a lot of money can be lost. Either Europe needs money, Europe needs money in investments, and not only in economic investments, it needs money in social policies. We can't just leave it behind. We have our slogan ‘Let no one be left behind’. We have less developed areas, and then we must avoid losing some money through lawsuits in some totally non-transparent arbitrations, and I think that here we must make a joint effort ‐ the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission ‐ in the discussion with the Member States, precisely to avoid losses in the future on these non-transparent lawsuits. We are talking here about transparency, we are talking here about the fact that we need to know everything that happens in a legal process, we are talking about human rights, we are talking about the rights of companies, we are talking about the rights of the European institutions and of the Member States. That is why I believe, and I appeal to you, that we must make a joint effort - the Commission, the Council and Parliament - to avoid economic losses.