(EU) and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR)? - FDCL

• free movement of capital connected to an investment including free transfer of
profits;
• elimination of tax legislation, policies, and practices which discriminate against
foreign investors;
• modification of respective tax laws on the treatment of foreign earned income to
encourage foreign investment and to prevent double taxation;
• national security exceptions in investment should be limited, narrowly circumscribed
and applied in a transparent manner;
• foreign investment protection agreements should be sped up.
In the newest version of the “Brasília Declaration” from October 30, 2003 the
same demands remain, amended by formulations, which demand the immediate
start of negotiations on public procurement, which declare the model of public-private-partnership
to be an overall remedy and emphatically demand a broad agreement
to protect investment within the FTA. 277 The issue of investment is at the top of
the MEBF agenda. Investment is one of the four “new issues”, which were accorded
at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore in 1996, which since then have been
labeled the “Singapore-issues”: Trade and investment, competition policy, government
procurement and trade facilitation. And these so-called “Singapore-issues” are
a popular object of negotiations and pipe dreams of the EU-Commission, also in the
EU-MERCOSUR negotiations.
The European Commission has always praised the MEBF: In June of 1999 the
then EU-commissaries Manuel Marín and Martin Bangemann had expressed their
highest regard of the MEBF. 278 And interestingly enough the DG Trade seems to have
adopted the MEBF declaration from October 30th as its own – how else should the
circumstance be interpreted, that the Brasília-declaration can be found on the DG
–trade website in the category of “related items-news” (where normally only EU press
statements or documents related to “EU-MERCOSUR” can be obtained). 279
The importance of the Singapore-issues for the European Commission should
not be underestimated. EU foreign trade commissioner Pascal Lamy sees them as
the motor for development:
277 MERCOSUR/European Union Business Forum: Brasilia Declaration, Brasília, October 2003.
278 FAX from Manuel Marin / Martin Bangemann. See: http://mebf.arcelor.com/pdf/EU_reaction_Rio.pdf: “On behalf
of the European Commission we would like to express our appreciation once again for the results achieved by the
MERCOSUR-EU Business Forum (MEBF).”
279 http://trade-info.cec.eu.int/doclib/html/114120.htm.
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