EU Foreign Direct Investment Policy and Human Rights. A Normative Power Europe?
The acquisition, through the Treaty of Lisbon, of the exclusive competence to negotiate international trade and investment treaties compromising all European Union member states, represents for the European Union relevant change in its powers as a global actor. Being considered as a flagship figure for the defence and promotion of Human Rights worldwide, the EU has above its shoulders the aim to be a key reference in a field where the critiques emerge. The cases of Rana Plaza and Bhopal are evidences of the existence of an international economic and legal model that actively contributes to the perpetration of violations of Human Rights and contravention of the national sovereignty of the states involved. Since the Doha round, the EU made the commitment to change the path from the WTO multilateralism to regional negotiations, relying on intra enforcement mechanisms. We will confront the EU’s Human Rights in its external policy and the “Normative Power” thesis, analysing the Human Rights pattern promoted by the EU, in a search for an answer to the questions, “Does the EU presents double standards in its FDI policy inside borders and abroad, or not?” , “Does the EU has been successful in presenting a new international trade model?” and “What are the legal alternatives to the current international trade model?”.
Sérgio Pedro . pedro.econtacto@gmail.com
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Sérgio Pedro (Lisbon,1990) Master student of Public Law at the Law Faculty of the New University of Lisbon with the specialization in International Trade and Human Rights law. While intern responsible for Trade and Human Rights, he worked in the delegation to the EU in Brussels of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Founding member of the Portuguese Platform NO to Transatlantic Treaty in 2014. Member of the Portuguese delegation of the MONSANTO Tribunal. Activist and Jurist dedicated to Human Rights and Social Ecology.