European Institutions Seminar Series

The current boom of investment arbitration under NAFTA as well as ICSID and other arbitral regimes has demonstrated that the enforcement of treaty obligations has become a standard feature of international law in this particular field of international economic law. The increased probability of actual enforcement of international standards of investment protection is generally welcomed in a system, such as the international legal order, which normally suffers from rather weak enforcement structures. At the same time, the proliferation of investment dispute settlement mechanisms bears its own risks. The concurrent availability of different investment dispute settlement mechanisms may lead to parallel proceedings or to the re-litigation of already decided cases. The CME/Lauder v. Czech Republic arbitrations where the same dispute was arbitrated under two different bilateral investment agreements and the CMS v. Argentina and the LG&E v. Argentina cases where similar issues were addressed demonstrate the inherent danger of a multiplication of procedures if the answers found by different tribunals are contradictory. The proliferation of investment disputes has broader structural implications which need to be addressed in order to secure the viability of this system of international arbitration.

August Reinisch is professor of public international law and European law at the University of Vienna. From 2004 to 2006 he served as Dean for International Relations of the Law School of the University of Vienna. He is also a professional lecturer at the Bologna Center/SAIS of Johns Hopkins University. He currently serves as arbitrator on the In Rem Restitution Panel according to the Austrian General Settlement Fund Law 2001 and as president of an UNCITRAL investment arbitration.

He holds Master's degrees in philosophy (1990) and in law (1988) as well as a doctorate in law (1991) from the University of Vienna and an LL.M. (1989) from NYU Law School. He is admitted to the Bar of New York and Connecticut (since 1990).

Born in 1930, Kurt H. Biedenkopf studied political science at Davidson College, North Carolina, concentrated in law at universities in Munich and Frankfurt, earned his Doctor of Laws in 1958 and received his Master of Law from Georgetown University in 1962. His teaching career began at Ruhr University Bochum in 1963 as Professor of Law and served as Rector from 1967 to 1969. From 1968 to 1970, Professor Biedenkopf chaired the Federal Government Commission on Co-determination and from 1970 to 1973, he was Executive Board member of the Henkel Corporation in Dusseldorf.

Kurt Biedenkopf has held numerous positions in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, including General Secretary (1973-1977), Vice President (1977-1983), and President of North Rhine-Westphalia Regional Association (1977-1987). From 1976 to 1980, and again from 1987-1990, Professor Biedenkopf was a member of the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and in 1977, he served as Chairman of the Institute for Economic and Social Policy in Bonn. From 1980 to 1988, he was a member of the Regional Parliament (Landtag) of North Rhine-Westphalia. Besides he published several books and was awarded honorary doctorates by Davidson College, Georgetown University and Catholic University by Brussels.

In 1990 during the transitional period to democracy and market economy he was Guest Professor of Law at Leipzig University. In this time he was leading the Christian Democratic Union of Saxony to success in the in the first free election after German unification 1990. Since he has been a member of the Regional Parliament and sworn in as first Minister President of Saxony. His re-election was on October 6, 1994, and once again on September 9, 1999. Since November 1, 1999 (until October 31, 2000), he is President of the Deutscher Bundesrat.

Ambassador John Beyrle presented his credentials to President Parvanov as U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria on September 8, 2005. A career officer in the senior Foreign Service at the rank of Minister-Counselor, Ambassador Beyrle has held policy positions and foreign assignments with an emphasis on U.S. relations with Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and the USSR since joining the State Department in 1983.

Ambassador Beyrle's overseas service has included two tours at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, most recently as Deputy Chief of Mission. He was Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Prague, and a member of the U.S. Delegation to the CFE Negotiations in Vienna. He served an earlier tour at the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria 1985-87. His Washington assignments include Acting Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for the New Independent States, and Director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council. He served as a staff officer to Secretaries of State George Shultz and James Baker, and as a Pearson Fellow and foreign policy adviser to the late Senator Paul Simon.

Ambassador Beyrle received a B.A. degree with honors from Grand Valley State University, and an M.S. degree as a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College.

Ambassador Elena Poptodorova has been the Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria since February 2002. Prior to assuming the ambassadorial post, Mrs. Poptodorova has held a number of government positions and served as a member of parliament for 11 years (1990-2001) as a representative of the Bulgarian Socialist Party. She is a signature figure of the new Bulgarian democracy, playing an active role in policy making and known as one of the liberal and maverick members of her party. In the period of June 2001 to August 2002, she led the Directorate of International Organizations and Human Rights. She served as Spokes of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately before becoming Bulgarian Ambassador to the United States.

Ambassador Poptodorova received her B.A. and M.A. in English and Italian Language and Literature from Tthe Kiment Ohridski University of Sofia, Bulgaria. She has a M.A. in international relations and diplomacy from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria.

This event is co-sponsored by the Forum on Contemporary Europe and the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

Calendar of the Ambassadors' trip in the US