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Appearing confident on the ratification process of the agreement, EU and Canada leaders signed the long-anticipated and negotiated EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, travelled to Brussels with three days delay from than initially planned visit of 27 October, in order to sign the finalised agreement along with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
“It was clear from the very beginning that CETA was not an easy task,” remarked Tusk as the the EU-Canada Summit had to deal with many delays and problems, even on the last day, when Trudeau’s plane encountered some problems and Tusk’s microphone had technical issues during the press conference. At the end of it all, Tusk stressed that this Summit was the most anticipated for as long as he can remember.
Tusk said that “Canada is the most European country outside of Europe,” adding that the EU not only signed CETA on Sunday, but an equally important Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), that evaded the public spotlight but will mean better EU-Canada cooperation in foreign policy, crisis management, security and defence, energy and climate, enhanced mobility and people-to-people exchanges.
“I welcome the decision by Canada to lift visa requirements for all Bulgarian and Romanian citizens in late 2017,” added Tusk mentioning one of the steps back that Canada had to take in order for all 28 member states to green light the agreement whose full text and annexes amount to over 2000 pages.
“Patience is a tree whose wood is bitter but its fruit is sweet,” added Tusk suggesting that today post-factual reality and post-truth politics are a difficult task; a challenge. “Free trade and globalisation protects humanity from total conflict, few people understand and support this,” but the alternative to free trade is protectionism and nationalism, said Tusk.
“I am extremely grateful to Canada for being so patient,” said Juncker, adding that “this is the best trade agreement that the EU had [ever] concluded,” and sets the bar for other deals. The EU has 20 more agreements that it is working on, including the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the USA.
President Juncker suggested that when the deal will be fully functional, more than half a billion people will enjoy new opportunities, more and better jobs with a country that has cooperated for more than 40 years with the EU. “We are proving today how close the relationship between the EU in Canada is in principle,” Juncker added.
“On the last weeks we were not parading but we were playing our role. Not behind the curtains but in the negotiation room,” added the European Commission chief.
The Canadian Prime Minister took a different approach, presenting the deal as good news for “Canada’s middle class and the ones [who] call it home.”
Trudeau added to the above that Canada is the EU’s 12th biggest trade partner and the EU is Canada’s is second biggest trade partner, showing the scale of CETA agreement. “As we sign and ratify … this agreement, it is then upon us all to ensure that our small businesses, our industries, take advantage of these markets and the increased competition, innovate and advance their capacities, so as to succeed.”
“Trade is about the follow-up, it is not just signing an agreement,” added Trudeau.
What about EU labour laws?
The agreement respects the legitimate interests of both businesses on EU and Canada, Juncker explained, underlining that the EU is not sacrificing workers’ right with the deal.
“I have spent 17 years as labour minister and I did not come here to Brussels to kill off these rights of workers to the labour market,” said Juncker, adding that the world of work and entrepreneurship will be the first to profit from the agreement.
Walloons Vs CETA – what did we learn?
“The Belgian problem was also aligned to the specific political system in Belgium,” remarked Tusk on the subject of the Walloons’ delaying the deal. “It is our common assessment that this was more educative than press conferences and formal meetings,” Tusk added. “Democracies are less predictive than other political systems, but we prefer democracy,” stressed Tusk.
With the provisional implementation of the deal, 96% of what is in CETA will be put into action.
On the ISDS, the Investor-state dispute settlement provisions, Trudeau suggested that both sides worked on a progressive view of an instrument that will allow a government to defend environmental social rights, resulting in “a new gold standard,” that will make sure that no national government will be stripped off its regulating rights.
“I hear what they say, I listen to them and I tell to those that are out in the street, to listen to what others are telling them,” said Juncker on the protests. “There is room for debate but we should not undermine our principles,” he added.
On the delay, Trudeau added that this made Canada “learn a great deal on how EU works,” repeating that he believes in democracy and fully understands the Wallonian issue as he is also a leader of a federal government. “As a leader of federation I understand how important it is to work constructively.”
Walloons: Commission played its role
Walloon Minister President Paul Magnette stated earlier that the European Commission had played an important role in bridging the divide. The Commission President expressed his gratitude, and added that the Commission never posed any kind of ultimatum to Wallonia, as “signing is important but rushing is a bad thing.”
Read the full text of CETA agreement here
The post CETA: Tusk, Juncker, Trudeau and the lessons of the negotiations appeared first on New Europe.