"Six reasons to scrap EU-wide "super-ISDS"", 25 May 2016

Last week, several European newspapers published revelations about a proposal to roll out highly controversial corporate tribunals across Europe...The proposed expansion of the so-called Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism would cover all cross-border investments in the EU...eroding democratic decision making...In the 1990s, many two-way investment agreements (bilateral investment treaties - BITs) were concluded between European countries, which generally included ISDS mechanisms.These agreements are the basis for a large number of past and ongoing ISDS cases against EU Member States. Now the European Commission has ordered member states to terminate their BITs...Six things you need to know about this dangerous proposal...It would massively expand ISDS across Europe – further threatening public policies across the continent...It would give extra rights to corporations, not to citizens...It confirms that foreign investors get extra rights through ISDS... It wants to introduce ISDS across Europe for the sake of trade negotiations...It confirms doubts about the legality of ISDS...It very closely mirrors a proposal made by the big business lobby group BusinessEurope earlier this year...