Brussels, 12/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - Under negotiation since 10 June 2009 (EUROPE 9919), the comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada could be completed with the 4th session of debates in Brussels from 12 to 16 July, with a view to final endorsement this autumn and official signature in 2011. Developed by business circles and multinational corporations of Europe and Canada represented by BusinessEurope, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the forum on Canada-Europe trade, supported by the European Commission and Council, CETA is not expected to encounter European Parliament opposition. In a resolution of 5 May, the EP in fact showed it was in favour. Progress in talks with a view to a comprehensive economic and trade agreement are an essential point in economic relations between the EU and Canada, the resolution backed by the EPP, S&D and ALDE Groups pointed out after its adoption on the eve of the annual EU/Canada bilateral summit in Brussels on 5 May (EUROPE 10133).
The CETA, however, has still not been approved unanimously within civil society, either in Europe or in Canada. Thus, the Public Services International (PSI), the European Public Services Union (EPSU), and the Canadian Trade Justice Network (TJN) have expressed concern about the impact that the CETA will have on social policy, environmental sustainability, public services, culture, intellectual property rights, food sovereignty and other areas that are vital for European and Canadian citizens. “Although free trade may sound promising, such deals largely benefit huge multinational corporations which have identified public services, such as health care, education and public security as the next frontier for marking private profit. This agreement's draft text outlines an agenda focused on privatisation, deregulation and domestic restructuring. Public procurement policies and the right to regulate in the public interest are under threat”, the PSI warns in a press release on 19 April (EUROPE 10122). “CETA aims to extend the scope of investor rights far deeper than the exchange of goods and services and into the realm of government policy-making, regulation, public services and procurement at the federal, provincial and territorial and local levels”, a TJN press release of 9 July reads. Marie Christine Vergiat (GUE/NGL, France) warns in the weekly, Politis, of 8 July that things move fast in these talks, without the question of the dangers of wholesale deregulation being posed. Her compatriot and peer, Jean-Luc Mélenchon (GUE/NGL), deplores that the “agreement, which has major consequences on the daily lives of citizens - dismantling of public services, the superiority of the righty of investors to protect their profits over the right of states to protect the general interest, bottom-up alignment of workers' rights, and the deteriorating access to health, water, education and culture - is negotiated behind their backs”. (E.H./transl.jl)