Protection of Foreign Investments in an Intra-EU Context

Book excerpt: The Achmea judgment revolutionised intra-EU investment protection by declaring intra-EU bilateral investment treaties (intra-EU BITs) incompatible with EU law. This incisive book investigates whether intra-EU foreign investments benefit from this alteration, which discontinued the parallel applicability of intra-EU BITs and EU law in the EU internal market. Analysing the level of protection offered to four identified types of investments, Dominik Moskvan argues that certain investors will find more favourable substantive protection under the framework of EU law as opposed to intra-EU BITs. However, he also highlights the loss of investment safeguards significant to more complex investments when relying exclusively on EU law. Furthermore, since the analysis reveals important differences in the approaches of EU Member States' judiciaries, the book proposes the creation of a permanent intra-EU foreign investment court to ensure a balanced economic development of the EU internal market. This book's discussion of the impact of the EU legal framework on investors' decisions will be beneficial for both EU and national policymakers when challenged with forming recommendations aimed at improving intra-EU investment policy. The comparative legal analysis from an investor perspective will also be of interest to scholars in EU and international investment law, as well as to lawyers advising foreign investors.