EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan is in Washington, DC (January 13-16) for meetings with the U.S. Administration, Congress, the IMF, and business leaders. This will include meetings with the United States Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, the Secretary of Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, and Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross. This is the first trip that Commissioner Hogan is taking outside the European Union in his capacity of Commissioner in charge of trade. 
On Tuesday 14, Commissioner Hogan participated in a Trilateral Meeting with Hiroshi Kajiyama, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, and Robert E. Lighthizer, United States Trade Representative. They announced their agreement to strengthen existing rules on industrial subsidies and condemned forced technology transfers practices (see the press release and joint statement here). 
Thursday morning, Commissioner Hogan will deliver remarks on ‘Refreshing Transatlantic Trade Relations’(link is external) at CSIS. 
Compliments of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States

In a Joint Statement issued today, representatives of the European Union, the United States and Japan announced their agreement to strengthen existing rules on industrial subsidies and condemned forced technology transfers practices.
In a meeting held in Washington, D.C., the EU, the U.S. and Japan agreed that the current list of subsidies prohibited under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) rules is insufficient to tackle market and trade distorting subsidisation existing in certain jurisdictions. They concluded therefore that new types of unconditionally prohibited subsidies have to be added to the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.
A structural reform of the WTO and levelling the playing field in global trade is a key priority for the EU and the von der Leyen Commission. Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan said: “This Joint Statement is an important step toward addressing some of the fundamental issues distorting global trade. The EU has been arguing consistently that multilateral negotiations can be effective in resolving these problems. I welcome the fact that the United States and Japan share this view. I am grateful to Ambassador Lighthizer and Minister Kajiyama for their constructive collaboration. This Statement is also a symbol of a constructive strategic collaboration between three major players in global trade.”
The EU, U.S. and Japan also agreed that for particularly harmful types of subsidies, such as excessively large subsidies, the burden of proof should be reversed: the subsidising WTO member must demonstrate that there are no serious negative trade or capacity effects and that there is effective transparency about the subsidy in question. The signatories of the statement also reaffirmed the importance of technology transfers for global trade and investment and discussed possible core rules to be introduced to prevent forced technology transfer practices of third countries.
The Joint Statement also confirmed continued cooperation on a number of key items such as:
The importance of market oriented conditions
Reform of the WTO, to include increasing compliance with existing WTO notification obligations
Pressing advanced WTO members claiming developing country status to undertake full commitments in ongoing and future WTO negotiations
International rule making and trade related aspects of electronic commerce at the WTO; and
International forums such as the Global Forum of Steel Excess Capacity and the Governments/Authorities’ Meeting on Semiconductors.
The Joint Statement is an important step toward resolving some key issues in the lead up to the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in June 2020 in Nur-Sultan.
Compliments of the European Commission

ESMA has today published the responses received to its consultation on MiFID II review report on position limits and position management.
To read the responses, click here.
Compliments of the European Commission

The European Commission unveiled a proposal that will allow the European Union to protect its trade interests despite the paralysis of the multilateral dispute settlement system in the World Trade Organization (WTO). To further increase the focus on compliance and enforcement of the EU’s trade agreements, the Commission created the position of Chief Trade Enforcement Officer.
President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “A stronger Europe in the world implies efficient EU leadership on global trade and appropriate powers to ensure that international trade rules are respected. For that reason, I start my mandate by taking swift action to strengthen our trade toolbox. Today’s proposals will let us defend our interests in these particularly uneasy times for international trade. As many European jobs are at stake, the EU needs to be equipped to ensure that our partners respect their commitments and that’s what this proposal aims for.”
Commissioner for Trade, Phil Hogan, said: “This is a critical moment for multilateralism and for the global trading system. With the Appellate Body removed from the equation, we have lost an enforceable dispute settlement system that has been an independent guarantor that the WTO’s rules are applied impartially. Whilst we seek to reform the WTO and re-establish a well-functioning WTO system, we cannot afford being defenceless if there is no possibility to get a satisfactory solution within the WTO. The amendments we propose will allow us to defend our companies, workers and consumers, whenever our partners do not play by the rules.”
Today’s proposal to amend the existing Enforcement Regulation comes as a direct reaction to the blockage yesterday of the operations of the WTO Appellate Body. The current regulation – a basis under EU law for adopting trade countermeasures – requires that a dispute go all the way through the WTO procedures, including the appeal stage, before the Union can react. The lack of a functioning WTO Appellate Body allows WTO Members to avoid their obligations andescape a binding ruling by simply appealing a panel report.
The Commission’s proposal will enable the EU to react even if the WTO is not delivering a final ruling at the appellate level because the other WTO member blocks the dispute procedure by appealing into the void.
This new mechanism will also apply to the dispute settlement provisions included in regional or bilateral trade agreements to which the EU is party. The EU must be able to respond resolutely in case trade partners hinder effective dispute settlement resolution, for instance, by blocking the composition of panels.
In line with the Political Guidelines of President von der Leyen, the Commission is further reinforcing the Union’s tools to focus on compliance and enforcement of the EU’s trade agreements and created the post of Chief Trade Enforcement Officer that will be filled in early 2020.
Ensuring the respect of the commitments agreed with other trade partners is a key priority of the von der Leyen Commission. The EU is therefore increasing its focus on enforcing its partners’ commitments in multilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements. In so doing the Union will rely on a suite of instruments. The proposal presented today will now be subject to validation by the European Parliament and the EU Member States in the Council in a normal legislative process.
Compliments of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States

The European Commission published today the latest report on protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in third countries. While developments have taken place since the publication of the previous report, concerns persist and a number of areas for improvement and action remain to be addressed. Intellectual property rights infringements worldwide cost European firms billions of euros in lost revenue and put thousands of jobs at risk. Today’s report identifies three groups of countries on which the EU will focus its action.

Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan said: “Protecting intellectual property such as trademarks, patents, or geographical indications is critical for the EU’s economic growth and our ability to encourage innovation and stay competitive globally. As much as 82% of all EU exports is generated by sectors which depend on intellectual property. Infringements of intellectual property, including forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, counterfeiting and piracy threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs in the EU every year.  The information gathered in the report will enable us to become even more efficient in protecting EU firms and workers against intellectual property infringements like counterfeiting or copyright piracy.”
The geographical and thematic priorities for the EU action to protect intellectual property rights are based on the level of economic harm to EU companies. The report will help to further focus and target efforts. The updated list of priority countries in the report remains split in three categories reflecting the scale and persistence of problems: 1) China; 2) India, Indonesia, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine; 3) Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.
China is at the origin of a dominant share of counterfeit and pirated goods arriving in the EU, in terms of both value and volume. More than 80% of counterfeit and pirated goods seized by EU customs authorities come from China and Hong Kong.
A high level of intellectual property protection is a standard element of all EU trade agreements. The Commission also engages in dialogues, working groups and technical programmes with key countries and regions, such as China, Latin America, Southeast Asia or Africa. Specific actions in the past two years included:
Technical support for the accession to international treaties in the area of IPR
Awareness-raising seminar for small businesses on the importance of IPR
Training for customs officers, judges and the police on IPR enforcement
Training for patent examiners
Training on licensing of protected plant varieties
The Commission is also an active contributor to intellectual property rights protection and enforcement at multilateral levels such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The report also puts intellectual property related to plant varieties in the spotlight. Plant breeding can play an important role in increasing productivity and quality in agriculture, whilst minimising the pressure on the environment. The EU wants to encourage investment and research in this area, including in the development of new crops resistant to drought, flood, heat and salinity to better respond to the negative consequences of climate change. Protection of plant varieties becomes therefore one of the Commission priorities in the coming period.
Background
Efficient, well-designed and balanced Intellectual Property (IP) systems are key in promoting investments, innovation, growth and the global business activities of our companies. In this context, the European Commission is actively involved in strengthening the protection and enforcement IP rights, including through its trade agenda, in third countries.
Industries that use intellectual property intensively accounted for some 84 million European jobs and 45% of the total EU GDP in the period 2014-2016. 82% of EU exports were generated by the industries intensively using intellectual property. In these sectors, the EU has a trade surplus of around 182 billion euros. Also, an estimated 121 billion euros or 6.8% of all imports into the EU, are counterfeit or pirated.
Compliments of the European Commission

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced the appointments of Petra Senkovic as Director General Secretariat and Secretary to ECB decision-making bodies, and Pedro Gustavo Teixeira as Director General Secretariat to the Supervisory Board and Secretary to the Supervisory Board.
Ms Senkovic, 49, is currently Director General Secretariat and Secretary to the Supervisory Board, a post she has held since November 2015. Prior to that she was Deputy Director General of the ECB Legal Services and worked at a private law firm. She holds a PhD in law from Sorbonne University and a Master of Arts in European law from the College of Europe in Bruges.
Mr Teixeira, 49, is currently Director General Secretariat and Secretary to ECB decision-making bodies, a post he has held since January 2016. He served as Director of the Secretariat and Secretary to the Supervisory Board from January 2014. Mr Teixeira started working at the ECB in 1999 in the areas of prudential supervision and financial stability. He holds a PhD in law from the European University Institute and a Master’s degree in law from the University of Coimbra.
Ms Senkovic and Mr Teixeira will take up their respective new positions on 1 February 2020.
Compliments of the European Central Bank

On 10 December 2019, the EU’s European Research Council (ERC) announced the winners of its latest Consolidator Grant competition: 301 top scientists and scholars across Europe. Funding for these researchers, part of the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, is worth in total €600 million. With this support, the new grantees will have a chance to build up their teams and have far-reaching impact.
The grantees will carry out their projects at universities and research centres in 24 different countries across Europe, with Germany (52 grants), the United Kingdom (50), France (43) and the Netherlands (32) as leading locations. In this competition, researchers of 37 nationalities received funding, amongst them are notably Germans (55 grants), French (33), Dutch (28) and Italians (23). The research projects proposed by the new grantees cover a wide range of topics in physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, as well as social sciences and humanities. See project examples.
13 U.S. scientists conducting research projects in Europe have also secured grants worth €25 million:
Building a Better Tomorrow: Development Knowledge and Practice in Central Asia and Beyond, Dr. Artemy KALINOVSKY, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Cortical gradients of functional integration, Dr. Daniel MARGULIES, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, CNRS, France
Interrogating native CRISPR arrays to achieve scalable combinatorial screens and dissect genetic redundancy, Prof. Chase BEISEL, Helmholtz-Zentrum fuer Infektionsforschung GmbH, Germany
Financing Frictions in High-Potential Entrepreneurship, Prof. Ramana NANDA, Harvard University, USA
Geomorphic and Sedimentary responses to Climate Periodicity, Prof. Taylor SCHILDGEN, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam – Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum, Germany
Cerebellar circuits for locomotor learning in space and time, Dr. Megan CAREY, Fundacao D. Anna de Sommer Champalimaud e Dr. Carlos Montez Champalimaud, Portugal
Motor cortical beta bursts for movement planning and evaluation: Mechanisms, functional roles, and development, Dr. James BONAIUTO, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
Music at the Frontiers of Artificial Creativity and Criticism, Dr. Bob STURM, KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLAN, Sweden
Nanoscale Design using Virtual Reality, Dr. David GLOWACKI, University of Bristol, UK
Algebraic Foundations of Supersymmetric Quantum Field Theory, Prof. Christopher    BEEM, University of Oxford, UK
Solar-to-Chemical Energy Conversion with  Advanced Nitride Semiconductors, Prof. Ian SHARP, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Germany
Smart Forests: Transforming Environments into  Social-Political Technologies, Prof. Jennifer GABRYS, University of Cambridge, UK
The ERC had previously announced, in October 2019, that 8 U.S. principal investigators had been granted Synergy Grants.
More on the 2019 ERC’s Consolidator Grants
The ERC Consolidator Grants are awarded to outstanding researchers of any nationality and age, with at least seven and up to twelve years of experience after PhD, and a scientific track record showing great promise. Research must be conducted in a public or private research organisation locate.
Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: “Knowledge developed in these new projects will allow us to understand the challenges we face at a more fundamental level, and may provide us with breakthroughs and innovations that we haven’t even imagined. The EU’s investment in frontier research is an investment in our future, which is why it is so important that we reach an agreement on an ambitious Horizon Europe budget for the next multiannual budget. More available research funding would also allow us to create more opportunities everywhere in the EU – excellence should not be a question of geography.”
ERC President Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, whose mandate ends on 31 December after six years in office, commented: “I have had the immense privilege of seeing thousands of bright minds across our continent receive the trust and backing to go after their most daring ideas. It has been an exhilarating experience through countless meetings with many of them in person, listening to their stories and being inspired by them. As it’s about top frontier research, it comes as no surprise that an overwhelming number of them already made breakthroughs that will continue to contribute greatly to meeting the challenges ahead. As I bid farewell to an organisation that will always remain close to my heart, I am once more highly impressed when I see this latest set of grantees funded by the European Research Council. That the ERC empowers them makes me proud to be European!”
Compliments of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States

The European Securities and Markets Regulator (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, today publishes a study on the market impacts of circuit breakers.
Sudden and drastic price swings in financial markets can be a source of market instability and are a concern for market participants, supervisors and regulators. Circuit breakers are key instruments used by trading venues to regulate markets and interrupt excessive price movements.
Based on Morningstar Real Time data ESMA has created a unique database of circuit breakers triggered between 1 April 2016 and 31 December 2016 on a sample of 10,000 financial instruments traded on EU trading venues, to analyse the impact they have on the market.
The study finds that that price volatility is significantly lower after the use of a circuit breaker. At the same time, bid-ask spreads widen and the price discovery process is not negatively affected. The cross-venue character of ESMA’s database also allows the assessment of coordination of circuit breakers across venues. 
Compliments of the European Commission