ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the EU's involvement in the investment negotiations on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as well as in the consequent negotiations on investment as part of the so-called Singapore Issues in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). When the MAI negotiations broke down due to substantive disagreements and institutional rivalries, the Commission seized the opportunity and managed to upgrade investment discussions in the WTO to proper multilateral negotiations. The USA lent only lukewarm support, while developing countries were hesitant or rejected the Commission's initiative on investment negotiations. US pressure led to the decision of the OECD Council of Ministers to commission a feasibility study on the prospects of establishing a MAI. The European Union's involvement and relatively unified negotiating approach in the MAI negotiations instead echoes Commission entrepreneurship and confirms institutionalist supranational thinking on European cooperation, delegation and integration.
