Insights

In late December, the EU concluded a comprehensive agreement on investment (CAI) with China. The deal is controversial, not so much because of its economic content, but because of what it says about the EU’s priorities and because of its potential geopolitical implications. Are these concerns valid?

With UK-based distributors in retail and other sectors facing EU tariffs on products originating outside the EU, UK Politics and Policy Practice Lead Alex Dawson and Senior Director Stephen Adams examine how Rules of Origin requirements will affect eligibility for tariff-free access after Brexit and what this means for businesses.

Unnoticed by most amidst the tragedies and dramas of 2020, US regulators last month completed a years-long effort to update the rules surrounding the unglamorous but important function of collecting delinquent consumer debt. Effective November 2021, the new rules are a positive for larger US-based debt-collection firms, which buy or service non-performing loan portfolios…

This conversation is based on publicly available information and previous draft texts at 5pm on Christmas Eve 2020.

At the end of each year, the Global Counsel team has a tradition of sharing among ourselves a selection of our favourite articles (or podcasts) from the past year for Christmas consumption. We started sharing the list with our network in 2017, and the response has been positive enough for us to continue. 

Ukraine, known for its skilled IT workforce, has recently suffered from a brain drain of young IT talent. The government now hopes that the launch of its ambitious IT project in mid-2021 will stem the flow by both promoting Ukrainian tech start-ups and attracting foreign investment. In January, the Ministry of Digital Transformation expects a parliamentary debate on a…

On a recent Global Counsel digital event, Lord Mandelson and German Vice Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, discussed the work of the German presidency, the EU’s strategic autonomy and German politics. 

Although less than half of President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet has been announced, progressives are already becoming impatient. “Joe Biden’s Cabinet Is a Lost Cause for the Left” reads the headline of a recent article in the New Republic, a liberal-leaning magazine. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a prominent progressive, has criticised Biden’s choices as lacking a…

Promoting the growth and sustainability of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) has long been a UK government priority with a compelling policy story: alongside recognisable corporate giants in the life sciences and MedTech sectors, the UK will be wanting to continue to support the vibrant ecosystem of entrepreneurialism with a wide range of SMEs contributing to the R…

President-elect Joe Biden has reportedly decided to nominate long-time Congressional staffer, Katherine Tai, to be the US Trade Representative (USTR), the lead trade negotiator for the administration. Tai has served as the Chief Trade Counsel for Democrats on the House Ways & Means Committee, and previously worked at the USTR under both the Bush and Obama…

Last week, the UK supermarket chain Tesco decided to repay £585m of business rates relief received in the covid-19 pandemic. Other major UK supermarkets and retailers rapidly followed. By Friday, they had vowed to return a total of £1.8 bn. Tesco’s chairman John Allan argued that “giving this money back to the public is absolutely the right thing to do” and was widely…

As the national lockdown ends and the UK government promises a substantial return to normality by Easter, the big question for retail is what “normal” even looks like. On a recent event, Global Counsel convened a panel of experts including Emma Bridgewater, founder of her eponymous ceramics firm, Archie Norman, chairman of M&S, Laura Citron, CEO of London &…

Gregor Irwin, Chief Economist, examines the prospects for the UK recovery from covid-19 in the wake of the rollout of vaccines, looking at the immediate prospects for recovery, longer term issues, and implications for asset prices and financial markets.

As the digital revolution enters a new phase, policymakers across the world must work out what it means for their old assumptions about how to run their economies and conduct their economic relations with others. This is particularly acute for mid-sized developed democracies, the biggest group of which lie in Europe. They cannot follow the Chinese model and they face an…

Stephen Adams, Senior Director, Tom White, Director, and Miranda Lutz, Senior Associate, discuss the tensions in the EU's published strategy for rapprochement with the incoming Biden administration, what it means for businesses and why there is more than a little sense of catharsis in Brussels' response to the new administration.

The pharmaceutical strategy published on Wednesday outlines the European Commission’s plan for the sector over the next five years. Its central message is clear: the EU needs to increase cooperation between member states and boost its overall competence in health policy. But perhaps more ambiguous is how the strategy will walk the fine line between incentivising…

With President-elect Joe Biden’s transition officially underway following the certification of voting results in several key battleground states, Biden has shifted his focus to naming his Cabinet and other key advisors for his administration. Biden’s appointments can serve as barometer as to how he will balance the progressive and moderate wings of his party. Given the…

After relief at the agreement on EU spending priorities for 2021-27, the Brussels establishment was caught off-guard last week by vetoes from Hungary and Poland over the obscure-sounding “rule of law conditionality”. A requirement of the European Parliament and of a qualified majority of member states, this affects a tiny proportion of the €1.8 trn package, effectively…