THE EU-CHINA COMPREHENSIVE AGREEMENT ON INVESTMENT BLUNDER OR WIN?

The article deals with the very current issue of mutual investment relations between the EU and China, especially in the context of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (the "CAI"). The author primarily analyzes the current legal framework and practice between the two partners and touches on possible problematic aspects and barriers that prevent the use of the full potential of these relations. Furthermore, the article addresses directly the investment agreement in question, analyzes its main parts and provisions, and puts them in context with other investment or trade agreements that the parties have concluded, namely the China US Phase One Agreement and the EU-Vietnam Trade Agreement and the Investment Protection Agreement. Subsequently, the main goal is to analyze the changes that CAI brings and assess whether they manage to overcome the identified harriers. Based on findings and comparisons with other authors, the author answers the question of whether the CAI is an investment agreement that has the potential to take the EU-China relationship to the next level or is a wrong move for the parties.