Perking-up EU actorness through sustainability in foreign direct investments.

In the constantly metamorphosing EU legal order, the law of foreign direct investment has evolved from a scattered and limited implied power to an exclusive competence, expressly provided for in the Treaty. International investment law for its part has endured in the last years great criticism due to severely suspected bias towards investors’ interests, and a general lack of balance between the protection of public interest and that of investments. Albeit a progressive recognition of the necessity to address such question in the newer generation of investment treaties by the inclusion of various terms aiming to ensure the protection of overriding interests such as environmental and social rights, construal and enforcement of investment treaties by investor-state arbitration panels as well as investor-state dispute settlement ipsum esse remains largely problematic. After examining the compatibility of ‘traditional’ international investment law within the confines of Union law -EU's sustainable development policies, values and objectives- I prove that to a large extent many of its aspects are potentially in breach of legally binding EU principles enshrined in the Treaties. In that respect, the EU legal order had to shape-up its foreign investment policy differently, in a way that is compatible with Union law. Given the external dimension of this policy, these issues are addressed not only internally, but within the EU’s relations with the world, in the context of a general revamp of international investment law. Applying numerous variables, the Union has sought to become one of the pioneers in the overhaul of international investment law, thus strengthening its world ‘actorness’ as the forerunner of sustainability in the bloc of developed states consistently with its objectives under article 21 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), and further enhancing the export of its values. I conclude that, overall, the EU’s endeavours for a ‘purge’ of international investment law which is consistent with the Union’s legal order, is substantially contributing towards a more responsible, fair and rules-based system and to the positioning of the EU as a responsible world leader, steering towards sustainable development.