German Vice-Chancellor proposes permanent investment court for EU-US free trade deal.
According to a draft proposal seen by Süddeutsche Zeitung, German Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has proposed setting up a permanent European-American investment court as part of the EU-US free trade agreement (TTIP) currently being negotiated. Potential disagreements would not be dealt with on an ad-hoc basis via the so-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) but instead “exclusively by a permanent bilateral international court.”
Meanwhile, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann says in an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung that “Austria wants an agreement without ISDS,” adding that “this is about a long-term decision. These agreements will also impact the life of our children and grand-children.”