A Breach of the Fundamental Purpose of Public Participation in Decision-Making

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) criticizes the European Commission's consultation process regarding the proposed Multilateral Investment Court, arguing that the Commission misrepresented public feedback to claim broad support for the initiative despite significant opposition found in narrative comments.

• The European Commission's consultation on the Multilateral Investment Court is criticized for using a constrained format of multiple-choice questions that avoided fundamental questions regarding whether a court for corporate investment protection privileges is consistent with human rights, environmental protection, and equal access to justice.
• While the European Commission claimed the consultation showed "overall broad support" for the multilateral reform of investment dispute settlement, a CIEL analysis of nearly 200 narrative comments revealed that nearly two-thirds of respondents expressed either outright opposition to the new court or believed it should not be created without first addressing fundamental problems with the investor-state dispute system (ISDS).
• CIEL recommends that EU Member States reject the mandate to negotiate the Multilateral Investment Court and suggests that the European Union should instead cancel or renegotiate existing agreements containing ISDS and avoid new agreements that provide excessive investor privileges.

APA

Hughes, L. (2017). A Breach of the Fundamental Purpose of Public Participation in Decision-Making. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/european-commission-consultation-multilateral-investment-court/

Chicago

Hughes, Layla. A Breach of the Fundamental Purpose of Public Participation in Decision-Making. Center for International Environmental Law, 2017. https://www.ciel.org/european-commission-consultation-multilateral-investment-court/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Hughes |first1=Layla |title=A Breach of the Fundamental Purpose of Public Participation in Decision-Making |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=21 November 2017 |url=https://www.ciel.org/european-commission-consultation-multilateral-investment-court/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{hughes2017breach, author = {Hughes, Layla}, title = {{A Breach of the Fundamental Purpose of Public Participation in Decision-Making}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2017}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ciel.org/european-commission-consultation-multilateral-investment-court/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }