Brussels, 19/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's arrival in Europe to attend the G8 summit did not enable the obstacles to be overcome that are currently blocking Canada's free-trade negotiations with the EU.
Has the time for the blame game now come? The European Commission has ruffled Canada's feathers, accusing it on Tuesday 18 June of slowing down the free-trade negotiations. While the EU negotiators have exercised “pragmatism and flexibility”, the same cannot be said of their Canadian partners, implied John Clancy, the spokesperson for European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht, on the sidelines of the G8 - as quoted by the Canadian media. The EU was also waiting for a signal from Canada that it was ready to break the deadlock that has existed since the first meeting between De Gucht and Canadian Minister for Trade Ed Fast last February.
More than six months after the initial deadline of December 2012, the EU and Canada have still not concluded their laborious negotiations for a comprehensive economic trade agreement (CETA) - negotiations that were launched in 2007. And the visits of Harper to London, Paris, Dublin and now Lough Erne - where he took part in the G8 summit on 17-18 June - have not brought a resolution of the situation.
The CETA was nevertheless the focus of Harper's meetings with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, France's President François Hollande and Ireland's Prime Minister Enda Kenny. The head of the Canadian government urged Europe to forge ahead with concluding a “historic” agreement which would bring about a 20% rise in bilateral trade. However, Harper also advised not to set a deadline. “We will continue to negotiate (…) in the best interest of all Canadians”, he said after his meeting with Hollande in Paris on 14 June.
On the technical level, the stumbling block of agriculture has reportedly still not been removed - with the parties stumbling on access to the agricultural market, the issue of export quotas for European cheese to Canada and the opening of the European market for beef and pork. Financial services, access to Canadian public procurement, and the issue of patents granted for medicines manufactured in Europe are the other major points of blockage in the negotiations. In April, the Canadian press announced a compromise on the automobile chapter. (EH/transl.fl)