Sketching the Contours of the Prospective EU-Russia Investment Architecture

Abstract

Since the Lisbon treaty entered into force in 2009, the European Union (EU) is vested with the exclusive competence in the field of foreign direct investment (FDI). In principle, this competence encompasses the negotiation and conclusion of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with third countries including the negotiation of the standards of treatment applicable to foreign investors, which has been the domain of the EU Member States so far. The advent of the new EU competence for FDI has also had an impact on EU-Russia relations. The European Commission identified Russia as a priority country for EU investment negotiations. Eventually, all existing BITs between the Russian Federation and EU Member States will be substituted by a new investment law regime between the EU and Russia. Drawing on the investment treaty practice of the Russian Federation and the slowly emerging contours of the EU's investment policy, this article attempts to give a first impression of how the future EU-Russia investment architecture may look like. For this purpose, the article will take stock of the Russian BIT practice of the past and then analyse discrepancies with regard to the EU position.