Brussels, 17/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper could finalise a deal in Brussels on Friday if they manage to overcome the remaining obstacles. It would appear that the problems over agriculture have been resolved.
As we go to press, Harper was flying to Brussels where he is due to meet Barroso on 18 October. The purpose of Harper's lightning visit is to put the political finishing touches to the comprehensive trade and investment agreement (CETA) that has been under negotiation between the EU and Canada since 2009. An agreement in principle could, then, be announced. “The negotiations … are well advanced. In this context, President José Manuel Barroso and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada will meet at the European Commission tomorrow with the objective of completing these negotiations”, confirmed Commission spokesperson Olivier Bailly on Thursday.
After ten months of treading water in talks, preventing a final package (95% of the agreement had been concluded by December 2012), and after the failure of finalisation talks between Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and his Canadian opposite number Ed Fast in February, the direct involvement of Barroso and Harper since they met on the sidelines of the G20 summit at the start of September, has allowed the two parties to come to agreement on the agricultural chapter - the most sensitive and the one on which the remainder of the talks depended.
According to a number of sources, the two parties made a major breakthrough when Canada agreed to double the quota of European cheese entering the country duty-free in exchange for wider access for Canadian beef and pork to the European market. The EU also won on protection of its geograpohical indications (Greek feta, in this instance).
In addition to the agricultural hurdle, financial services, access to Canadian public procurement (calls for tender from the provincial governments) and the issue of patents for medicines were the other main stumbling blocks in the negotiations. (EH/transl.fl)