Brussels, 14/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The EU and Canada have entered the home straight in their talks on a comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA).
“Hopefully we are very close to closing a deal. On both sides we have a very clear desire to wrap up the deal before the end of the year”, stated Karel De Gucht when asked, during his visit to Mexico, about the free-trade negotiations opened with Canada in 2009. Following a technical-level meeting on 8 November devoted to rules of origin, public contracts and intellectual property rights at which insufficient progress was made to achieve a breakthrough, the European and Canadian sides still have to reach agreement on six sticking points - intellectual property (including pharmaceutical patents and geographical indications), public procurement, investment (in terms of both market access and protection), services (financial services, cultural services and Mode 4 services on cross-border movement of workers included), the automotive sector (including rules of origin, quotas and standards) and the chapter on agricultural market access.
Given the importance of the agricultural chapter, Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz will travel to Brussels on 22 November in an attempt to reach agreement with Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos. The two sides have still to exchange their offers, the first containing offensive interests on dairy products (cheeses), poultry and eggs, and the second on beef, pork and sweet corn.
More generally, the EU has many offensive interests (geographical indications, pharmaceutical patents, public procurement and investment), while Canada is well aware of what it has to gain from the huge scale of the European market. Should a draft agreement be reached at the ministerial meeting on 22-23 November, it will be presented by De Gucht to the Council of European trade ministers on 29 November. If no draft agreement is forthcoming, the Commission will ask the member states for more time to come to agreement. A source close to the matter has indicated that the two sides are hopeful of reaching an agreement in January or February 2013. (EH/transl.fl)