This seminar focuses on the concept of ‘inflation’ in the EU’s recent trade agreements and how it poses serious hurdles to the conclusion of new trade agreements. Dr. Szilárd Gáspár Szilágyi relies on the recent ’Palm Oil Wars’ with Indonesia and Malaysia as a case study on how the WTO-extra commitments the EU is trying to include in its new PTAs create a hard to manage CCP, which is not yet producing some of the results it was expected to produce following the Lisbon amendments. As a possible solution, Dr. Szilágyi proposes that the EU should create a hierarchy (in the sense of prioritisation) within its non-trade values, among which one can mention the prohibition of forced labour, the promotion of democratic values, sustainable development, environmental protection, and investment protection. For higher non-trade values, the EU should follow a principle-based approach, even if the risk is that no agreement will be concluded; for lower- or medium-level values, the EU should be willing to accept trade-offs in order to keep concluding trade agreements and remain a credible international partner.

About the Speaker:

Szilárd is a Lecturer in EU and International Economic Law. Prior to his lectureship at Birmingham University, he worked at Keele University (UK), the PluriCourts Centre of Excellence at the University of Oslo (Norway), the University of Amsterdam, and the Hague University of Applied Sciences. He defended his PhD in 2015 at Aarhus University in Denmark. He also holds a two-year LLM from Maastricht University (the Netherlands, top 3%) and an LLB from Babes-Bolyai University (Romania, valedictorian). He has pursued research stays and foreign exchanges at Vienna University, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, the Asser Institute in the Hague, Utrecht University, Bucerius Law School, and Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He regularly publishes on topics concerning international investment law, EU investment law, EU external relations, and regional economic integration.