The European Commission is seeking to take more power into its hands to strike deals to protect European companies investing abroad, a role traditionally undertaken by the European Union’s member states.

Brussels has long had the power to set laws governing external trade tariffs but rules giving European companies rights against the foreign governments in whose countries they have invested have, until now, been agreed by the member states in bilateral investment treaties (BITs). Such treaties often contain “investor-state provisions” allowing companies to sue governments directly.