Investment Agreement Still Faces Hurdles Before Ratification

The much-discussed China-EU Investment Agreement, tentatively agreed between the two sides in the last day of 2020, still faces some obstacles before its eventual ratification and coming into force.

• The agreement does not have to be approved by the legislatures of each EU member state, but will have to be approved by the European Parliament and the European Council.
• Before being presented to the Parliament, the agreement will need to be 'legally scrubbed' and translated so that it is suitable for debate in the EU. This will likely take some time. The European Parliament is also likely to have little time at the start of the year as it debates the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which has been provisionally applied by the EU but not yet ratified by the Parliament.
• A number of MEPs have also voiced their displeasure at the deal, either due to China's alleged human rights violations, the actions of Beijing in relation to Hong Kong in recent days, China's trade practices, or because they do not believe it will be economically beneficial for the EU/their country/their constituents. As such, while a defeat of the Investment Agreement is unlikely (with member states and senior EU officials in favour a majority is likely to be found to vote it through) its passage may not be smooth.
• Once approved by the Parliament, it will have to be approved by the European Council (heads of member state gov'ts) before official ratification and eventually coming into force.
• Theresa Fallon, founder and director of the Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies and a nonresident senior fellow of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs has said the entire process could take up to a year.