Brussels, 08/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - More time will be needed to seal a comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada, but it looks as if progress is being made on the agricultural side.
The second bilateral meeting between European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht and his Canadian counterpart, Ed Fast, in Ottawa on 6-7 February did not enable the negotiations for an EU-Canada free trade agreement to be concluded definitively (negotiations that were started in 2009 and were in their final phase in autumn 2012). Nonetheless Brussels and Canada are nearing the end. “There are still a number of important gaps to be bridged before an agreement is reached. Discussions will now continue between chief negotiators. Quality and substance of the negotiations remain paramount over speed”, said De Gucht's spokesperson, John Clancy, on his return from Canada on Friday 8 February. Promised for the end of 2012, the agreement was postponed until the beginning of this year, it having proved impossible to reach agreement on the most difficult chapters - tariff quotas for sensitive agricultural products, pharmaceutical patents and geographical indications, access to public procurement contracts and resources, investment, services and the automotive package (tariffs and rules of origin).
The political choices discussed by De Gucht and Fast this Thursday, which European Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos also joined, enabled the agricultural stumbling block in particular to be partly overcome. “We are now in a more realistic zone, but we are still not there yet”, Clancy assured on Friday. The agricultural file has until now come up against large differences of opinion on market access - with Canada presenting an ambitious demand on tariff quotas for its beef and pork exports, and the EU wanting substantial opening of the Canadian market for its dairy products (and its cheese, in particular). The EU also wants protection of its geographical indications for its agri-food products.
In addition to the agricultural file, other important issues also remain on the negotiating table including, inter alia, pharmaceutical products and arrangements relating to public procurement contracts - more precisely urban public transport, according to one Community source.
The CETA seeks to boost bilateral trade by 20% - bilateral trade that stood at €52.5 billion for goods in 2011 and over €20 billion for services in 2010. The CETA also seeks to stimulate already large investment flows between the two partners. EU investment stocks in Canada reached €197.4 billion in 2010, while Canadian investment in the EU stood at €143.1 billion. (EH/transl.fl)