In the recent past, international investment law, on the one hand, and the European legal system, on the other, have coexisted peacefully side by side with only occasional contacts. It was the historical period when EU Member States were responsible for concluding around half of the more than 3,000 BITs internationally. At that time, on the other hand, the EU and the Member States adhered to the Energy Treaty (ECT) and to the provisions of the latter on the subject of the settlement of investor-state disputes. The EU also actively encouraged candidate states to become its members to enter into international investment agreements (IAIs) in order to attract foreign investment (FDI) and to provide legal stability for foreign investors.
We have therefore witnessed, over the years, a continuous increase in investment agreements, and also in disputes based on them.
However, recently, a series of legal and institutional changes within the EU have rather abruptly interrupted this process and this peaceful coexistence between EU and international investment law, giving rise to a situation of permanent conflict between these two legal systems. On the one hand, with the Treaty of Lisbon, the matter of international investments has become the exclusive competence of the EU. On the other hand, the traditional investor-state dispute settlement system (ISDS) has been subjected to fierce criticism from a plurality of stakeholders (NGOs, European Parliament…). Finally, the Court of Justice, in a series of sensational decisions (Micula, Achmea, Komstroy, Poland Holding), has created an almost incurable rift between the pre-existing international order and the current Euro-unitary discipline, provoking quite a few reactions criticisms and giving a shoulder to the certainty of the law.
The Center intends to investigate this conflictual relationship between the EU and international investment law, aiming to develop partnerships and consortia with foreign universities, with the competent national and European institutions and with the world of professionals. Being a sector of enormous economic importance, the repercussions of this research activity could be very significant.