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Change EU investment policy – now is the time!

Change EU investment policy – now is the time!

Public interest, social and environmental policies under threat

Publication

R. Knottnerus

1 February 2011

Over the past decades EU member states have signed over 1200 “Bilateral Investment treaties” (BITs) designed to protect their investors abroad. BITs allow multinational corporations the right to challenge governments’ social, environmental and economic regulations if they look like they might harm the profitability of their investment. The investment dispute settlement mechanisms that are typically an integral part of BITs allow foreign investors to by-pass domestic courts and sue sovereign states before international arbitration panels. BITs have cost taxpayers millions in legal expenses and compensations and are eroding the ability of governments to act in the best interests of their citizens. Bilateral investment treaties are a threat to public policy, democratic governance and the public interest and should alert anybody concerned with environmental and social policies.