Elaine Fahey and Giulio Kowalski

An online workshop took place on 2 July 2021 at City Law School  ‘The Transatlantic Space Between Shifting Administrations: The Place of the EU and US in the Global Legal Order’ organised by the Jean Monnet Chair in Law & Transatlantic Relations and Institute for the Study of European Law (ISEL) at City Law School, funded by Erasmus+ programme.

This event focused upon the place of the EU and US in the world and the rising significance of global challenges in particular to the transatlantic alliance and salient legal instruments, practices and developments. It constitutes an effort to understand the transatlantic relationship and in particular how it reveals the EU as a global actor, charged with promoting good global governance in its treaties, engages with significant shifts in the relationship across administrations. The event focused upon three major themes: the place of international law and the transatlantic relations, organisations and intra-organisational relations and norm promotion practices of the EU and US. It considered: what is the place of the EU and US in public international law going forwards? How do we understand intra-organisational relations? How does the esoteric nature of the EU as a global actor inhibit or assist the US going forward, inside and outside of international organisations?

Trade, Investment and Forms of cooperation in Transatlantic relations

Session 1 featured discussions onTrade, Investment and Forms of cooperation in Transatlantic relations’ and included interventions from Kai Purnhagen (Professor of Law, University of Bayreuth) on EU-US regulatory cooperation standards: institutionalising global change and challenges, considering the place of the limits of mutual recognition and the limits to regulatory cooperation in light of agency powers. Daniel Francis (Furman Fellow and Emile Noël Fellow, New York University) Former Deputy Director of the US Federal Trade Commission, outlined the new agenda of antitrust in the US emerging under a new era of reach over Big Tech The Present and Future of Digital Antitrust. Jenya Grigorova (Dispute Settlement Lawyer, World Trade Organization) outlined the transatlantic impact of one of the CJEU’s most significant external relations cases as to investment, the Achmea decision in a talk on Reverberations of the CJEU Achmea B.V. Decision In The Transatlantic Space. This was followed by Eva van der Zee (Assistant Professor, University of Hamburg) outlining transatlantic convergences and divergences on climate change, speaking as to Fighting climate change together? Opportunities and potential hurdles for an EU-US Transatlantic Trade Agenda. Finally the session was concluded by Thomas Verellen (Assistant Professor in Law, Utrecht University; Visiting Scholar, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) speaking about a forthcoming research project as to the EU’s new era of trade unilateralism,  Separation of Trade Powers: The Case of Unilateral Instruments.

EU and US Intra-organisations relations

Session 2 onEU and US Intra-organisations’ relations featured discussions from David O’Sullivan (Senior Counsellor,Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Former EU Ambassador to the US) outlining the immense global transatlantic agenda and alignment on many key global challenges, in light of his ambassadorial experience for the EU in recent times, speaking on EU-US relations in a changing world. This was followed by an outline of Garret Martin(Senior Professorial Lecturer & Co-Director of the Transatlantic Policy Center, American University, DC) on the future of EU strategic autonomy with specific reference to NATO in a talk on NATO-EU Cooperation and the Future of the European Security Order. Mike Smith (Honorary Professor in European Politics, University of Warwick) spoke about the configurations of EU-US relations in shifting orders of global governance, reflecting upon changes across administration as to how the EU as engaged, in Interinstitutional cooperation & EU diplomacy in the transatlantic space. Thereafter, Charles Roger (Assistant Professor and Beatriu de Pinós Research Fellow, Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacional) reflected upon the 20 year old scholarship of Pollack and Shaffer and their typology of transatlantic actors in Making Transatlantic Governance Work. This was followed by Joseph Dunne (Director of the European Parliament Liaison Office in Washington DC) giving an outline of the evolution of the role of the European Parliament Liaison office in Washington DC, similar to its UK office but also distinctive in many key ways, speaking about  Connecting the US Congress and the European Parliament: The work and role of the EP Liaison Office in Washington DC and the Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue. Finally, Kenneth Propp (Georgetown University Law Center, Atlantic Council, Europe Center) gave an array of insightful remarks on understanding EU external relations from the perspective of US negotiators and diplomats in international organisations and bilaterally in the context of seeking closer relations in A US Perspective on Negotiating with the European Union

Norm promotion practices of the EU and US in the Digital Age

Session 3 onNorm promotion practices of the EU and US in the Digital Age’ featured contributions from Fabien Terpan (Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law & Politics, Sciences Po Grenoble UGA) & Elaine Fahey(Jean Monnet Chair in Law & Transatlantic Relations, City, University of London) on The Future of the EU-US Privacy Shield, outlining the many legal challenges to the EU-US Privacy Shield and the reasons for its failings and possible future developments. Maria Kendrick (Lecturer in Law, City, University of London) set out the current global and transatlantic battles as to a Digital Services Tax in a talk on The EU and US Transatlantic Agendas on Taxation: Is Digitalisation Accelerating a Global Battle.  Giulio Kowalski(Doctoral researcher, City, University of London) delivered a presentation on digital markets and the future of the transatlantic convergence agenda, reflecting on an EU-US Trade and Technology Council (EU-USTTC) speaking on Transatlantic enforcement of digital markets and competition law post-Brexit. Peter Van Elsuwege (Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law, Ghent University) and Viktor Szep (Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Groningen) spoke about the place of transatlantic cooperation in the domain of sanctions policy and the esoteric nature of the EU and US in this regard post-Brexit in a talk Transatlantic cooperation in sanctions policy. Finally, Sara Poli (Professor of Law, University of Pisa) reflected on the many in which national cooperation operated to the detriment or complexity of transatlantic cooperation using a few key casestudies, North Stream II and US energy sanctions in a talk, When the exercise of a national competence affects EU interests and the transatlantic cooperation: the case of the construction of North Stream II, the US energy sanctions and their effects in the EU.

For research and events on Transatlantic relations and the European Union visit  Jean Monnet Chair in Law & Transatlantic Relations and Institute for the Study of European Law