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Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
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10 May, 5 tweets, 1 min read
A quick defense of the continuity trade agreement program (though coming from someone who thinks the tariff aspect of free ports is negligible anyways) (short thread)
The decision that the government took (I have no inside knowledge on this, but it is glaringly obvious even from the outside) was: copy the deals. Make them as identical as humanly possible. /2
This was necessary to protect UK trade. As soon as you say "let's discuss duty drawback" you open the door to the other side saying "great, let's also dicuss XYZ". If both sides say "maximum continuity" you can get places fast. /3
Now this comes with a lot of side-effects. The UK basically follows EU trade policy. It's the logical consequence of carbon-copying the EU FTAs. That, sometimes, has weird side-effects. /4
Duty drawback is a complex issue. And what you do in an FTA is a matter of negotiation. /5

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More from @hhesterm

Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
11 May
Bit patents and access to medicines at the WTO news: Bolivia's request for a compulsory license for export under existing TRIPS rules is going forward. A quick thread on where we stand /1
Great. That should be BIG news. Wow. OK. So, where were we? Right: Some background. Patents are territorial. A US patent is for the US, a UK patent is for the UK and so on. That's an important principle to know. /2
Countries can, under their laws, force a patent holder to grant a license. That is legal under WTO law - the TRIPS agreement. There are tons of requirements. Like paying money, imposing each compulsory license on its own merits etc. /3
Read 16 tweets
Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
9 May
I was not aware of this Kurt Schumacher quote from his speech in the Reichstag in 1932: if we have to appreciate anything in national socialism, we have to appreciate that for the first time in German politics they achieved a full mobilization of human stupidity. /1
Kurt Schumacher was jailed in July 1933, put into a KZ - and after the war led the SPD.
And yes, I should add that this Europe day I both applaud his judgment and courage vis-a-vis the Nazis - and celebrate his political, democratic defeat by Adenauer on Germany‘s position in the world. As a democrat he would respect that.
Read 4 tweets
Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
6 May
Some of the news can be really depressing. So allow me to do a short thread of aid for India. I'll start with the Netherlands, simply because this tweet in my timeline inspired me to do this.
The US is delivering a lot of medical aid to India
The UK is doing its part
Read 4 tweets
Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
5 May
A short thread for those who want to understand just why twitter (well, the trade part of it) is going crazy surrounding an "IP waiver" for covid vaccines (thread)
In an age long past intellectual property - let's limit ourselves to patents - were were not part of world trade law. The rules of international IP were negotiated in the World Intellectual Property Organization alone.
Now the IP treaties did not really harmonize IP law. They made it a bit simpler to get protection in several countries. And the world was - oversimplifying a LOT here - largely split: the Global North protected IP, the Global South did not to such an extent. Why?
Read 12 tweets
Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
4 May
UK-India and EU competences in brief: the UK could have done the 1 billion in announced deals. It could not have done an MOU including plans for a future FTA.
Why part 1? The announced 1 billion in deals were commercial stuff. Private deals. Here's France announcing deals on the occasion of a Macron visit. lexpress.fr/actualite/mond…
Why part 2? The MoU includes some planning for an FTA. That's an exclusive EU competence and accordingly the UK could not have done it.
Read 4 tweets
Holger Hestermeyer Profile picture
3 May
Here’s some advice for UK pundits who want to write on the German constitutional court: get in touch with someone trained in German constitutional law. /thread
I agree with several of the statements in this column. There are some mistakes, however. For example the second senate is not in charge of EU-related rulings in general. The famous right to be forgotten decisions were handed down down by the 1st senate.
And of course, there are loads of reasons that allow you to coherently agree with the decision on climate change but to disagree with the PSPP decision. In constitutional law terms they are quite diffferent.
Read 7 tweets

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