Canada questions EU as trade deal hangs in balance
NAN-F-21
Deal
Karlsruhe, (Germany), Oct. 13, 2016 (dpa/NAN) Canada’s Prime Minister on Thursday, warned European leaders that failure to follow through on a massive EU-Canada trade deal could affect the EU’s ability to do business in the future.
“It’s time for Europe to decide what the European Union for is,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a news conference with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
The criticism came hours after the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU cleared a legal hurdle in Germany amid anti-globalisation criticism.
“If in a week or two we see that Europe is unable to sign a progressive trade agreement with a country like Canada, then with whom does Europe think it could to business in the years to come.
“In this post-Brexit situation, when there are many questions about Europe’s “usefulness.
“If Europe cannot manage to sign this agreement then that sends a very clear message not just to Europeans but to the whole world that Europe is choosing a path that is not very productive either for the world or for its citizens.
“That would be a shame,’’ Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister said.
His comments followed a ruling by the top court in export juggernaut Germany that the free-trade pact would not violate the German constitution.
The ruling means that Berlin has the go-ahead to give its blessing to the deal at an EU meeting on Tuesday.
The deal has been slammed as dangerous to European standards and has been linked to a similar, unpopular trade deal between the US and the European Union, TTIP.
German Economic Affairs Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who has had to balance his job’s trade promotion remit with hesitancy from his Social Democrats Party, joined business leaders in welcoming the ruling.
Gabriel said he was “very satisfied” with the outcome of the Constitutional Court hearing.
On a similar note, Ulrich Grillo, who heads up the Federation of German Industry (BDI) said he was relieved by the verdict on the CETA.
Opponents of the agreement between the EU and the world’s 10th biggest economy had appealed to the court to stop the German government from approving the agreement at a meeting of EU trade ministers scheduled for Oct. 18.
In handing down its decision, the court imposed certain conditions for Berlin’s approval of the deal.
This includes ensuring decisions made by CETA’s joint bodies were democratic and that Germany could possibly withdraw from the deal.
Gabriel insisted that the conditions imposed by the court had already, to an extent, been fulfilled.
“With this modern free trade agreement, the EU is taking an important step towards shaping globalisation according to our European values,” said Grillo.
Echoing Grillo, Ulrich Ackermann from the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) said: “The verdict is also a clear signal to our trading partners around the world that the EU is ready for comprehensive trade agreements.
The VDMA represents one of Germany’s key export sectors.
The Karlsruhe-based court issued the ruling less than 24 hours after also hearing arguments from critics which included Germany’s hard-left party, Die Linke.
Others are citizens’ action group More Democracy and the consumer organisation Foodwatch representing tens of thousands of opponents.
The court plans to issue a more detailed judgement at a later stage.
CETA is to be formally signed at a summit of EU leaders and Candian leader Trudeau in Brussels on Oct. 27.
The summit would then launch the ratification process with all of the EU’s 28 national parliaments as well as the Canadian parliament having to agree to the accord.
However, the accord could still run into opposition in other parts of Europe, including Belgium.
CETA critics had sought to head off the agreement provisionally coming into force in the EU before the approval of national parliaments, with the European Parliament likely to consider the deal possibly by the end of the year.
EU and Canadian leaders argue that by abolishing tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers as set out under the agreement will help to stimulate economic growth and create jobs.
CETA opponents claim the trade deal will lower the EU’s consumer and environmental standards and that the negotiations were held behind closed doors.
The EU is Canada’s second most important trading partner after the United States.
Consequently, CETA is also considered by officials as helping set the stage plans for TTIP, which is facing even stiffer opposition on both sides of the Atlantic. (dpa/NAN)
OYE/AFA
Edited by Damilola Oyewole/Felix Ajide
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