The 835 reasons not to sign trade and investment agreements
TNI | 23 June 2017
The 835 reasons not to sign trade and investment agreements
by Lavinia Steinfort
A democratic decision to regulate a privatised essential service or to return it to public control could potentially trigger international investment arbitration if a country is bound by an international investment treaty. This is what happened to Lithuania’s capital city of Vilnius and several other municipalities after they decided against renewing the contract in order to remunicipalise the district heating. As a result the government of Lithuania was taken to court by the French energy giant Veolia.