Court of Justice ruling of 16 May 2017 on EU-Singapore FTA

22.6.2017

Question for oral answer O-000057/2017
to the Commission
Rule 128
Bernd Lange, Daniel Caspary, David Martin, on behalf of the Committee on International Trade

Negotiations for the free trade agreement between the EU and Singapore were launched in March 2010. The EU and Singapore completed negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement in October 2014. On 4 March 2015 the Commission decided to request an opinion of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the EU’s competence to sign and ratify the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore. By placing almost all of the EU-Singapore FTA provisions within the exclusive competence of the Union, the Court’s ruling (16 May 2017) provides clarity. The decision opens up new possibilities and policy choices that are to be made, taking into account the necessity of delivering concrete negotiating results within a reasonable amount of time.

1. In the Commission’s opinion, what is the impact of the CJEU Opinion on the allocation of competences between the European Union and the Member States with regard to the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Singapore (Opinion procedure 2/15) on future mandates for the negotiation of trade agreements and the procedures for their ratification?

2. How does the Commission ensure that future negotiation mandates draw a clear distinction between EU exclusive and shared competences?

3. How does the Commission ensure that the ratification procedures of future trade agreements reflect the distribution of competences, as deducible from the CJEU opinion?