Brussels, 09/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 9 February, two MEPs from the Belgian Socialist delegation at the European Parliament, Marie Arena and Kathleen Van Brempt, warned that, based on a study from Ghent University, they would vote against the EU-Canada free trade agreement (CETA) at the ratification vote scheduled for the course of 2016. Arena and Van Brempt argue that the CETA crosses the red lines fixed by the European Parliament in its resolution of 8 July 2015 on the future EU-US free trade agreement (TTIP).
In his study, Ferdi De Ville from the Centre for EU Studies at Ghent University, underlines that the close links between the CETA and TTIP would make it difficult for the EU to refuse the US certain concessions in TTIP that are granted to Canada in the CETA.
Given their strong presence in Canada, US companies would be able to use certain arrangements in the CETA to enter the European market without the safeguards that political pressure and citizens would enable to be added to TTIP, De Ville warns.
In his view, several red lines fixed by the European Parliament for TTIP are missing from the CETA, or not sufficiently guaranteed in it - such as a safeguard clause, a binding suspension clause on human rights, the exclusion of public services, the preservation of social and environmental standards, and exclusion from the system of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).
“This study highlights the shortcomings of the CETA. I can't accept an agreement that does not protect the right of states to regulate, that provides for liberalisation by default and 'negative lists', and that confirms arbitration courts presided over by judges who are appointed without independence. These are non-negotiable points both for the CETA and TTIP, as well as for any other trade agreement”, Arena states.
“If we value our environmental protection and sustainable development standards, they must be obligatory and enforceable. We underlined these demands for TTIP, and there is no reason to accept that they should not apply to the CETA”, adds Van Brempt. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)