Competitive International Partnerships

International partnerships play a vital role in securing necessary resources, energy, and inputs for the socio-ecological transformation in Germany, EU and worldwide. This study analyses existing partnership instruments and views collected from progressive and trade union partners in workshops across three world regions to evaluate how international partnerships are implemented in practice. It demonstrates that promises of greater local value creation – welcomed in principle by progressive partners across all regions – have so far largely not been underpinned by agreements that are legally binding and sufficiently financed, while contradictions remain with more impactful trade and investment agreements. Progressive partners are additionally concerned that the promise of resilient transformation partnerships will be further undermined by impending moves to retreat from due diligence regulation of multinational companies’ (CSDDD) in the name of ‘competitiveness’.

The study develops recommendations for reform to address these shortcomings when implementing the new partnership approach and to build resilient partnerships for the socio-ecological transformation more successfully in a context of geo-economic competition for partners and their supplies. The recommendations for more competitive partnerships are centred on four main policy areas: a) Integrating external policy instruments coherently into the new partnership approach; b) Strengthening partnerships’ local value creation through specific industrial policy tools; c) Legitimising and securing partnerships over time through inclusion and participation; and d) Protecting human and environmental rights through appealing measures to ensure resilient partnerships.

These recommendations for more competitive partnerships that do not risk alienating crucial partners for the EU and Germany are especially relevant today. There is an opportunity in the new EU and German legislative periods to build on the new partnership approach and overcome its previous flaws, inter alia by factoring in the perspective of key partners around the globe. This opportunity arises particularly given imminent negotiations with the European Parliament on a potential repeal of European due diligence regulation, the new European Commission’s current initiative on Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships, and the recently elected German government’s commitment to forging ahead with partnerships.