Incidence of nafta and the Agreements for the Protection of Foreign Invesment on Mexico’s relations with the European Union

Abstract

This article analyzes the way nafta has affected Mexico’s transatlantic relations with the European Union after the implementation of the Global Agreement between Mexico and the eu (2000) and the Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements concluded between Mexico and some European countries from 1995. The hypotheses of this work, consider that in the last 13 years, Mexico transatlantic relations have undergone a process of relative embrittlement motivated by at least two facts: first, would be the introduction of what is known as the nafta Parity in the negotiation process. One of the most tangible achievements of the agreement was that thanks to nafta Parity, Mexico used as a platform to redirect part of the investment and European goods, mainly to the usa, but also the rest of North America. A second aspect that strengthens our hypothesis is the impact that produced the Treaty of Lisbon (2009), along with the debate between Community member, linked to the European investment protection outside the eu and the validity and relevance of the settlement dispute mechanisms on investment, that European companies used against a non-eu countries through the protection it confers a bit/appris. This aspect has become a compelling argument to determine the investment criteria of the eu companies in Mexico and Latin America, among other regions