Brussels, 22/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - A European Parliament delegation led by the chair of the international trade committee, Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany), and the rapporteur on the EU-Canada free trade agreement (CETA), Artis Pabriks (EPP, Latvia), is currently in Canada on a three day visit (21-23 March) to Ottawa and Montreal. The visit comes against the backdrop of the coming CETA ratification process.
The delegation also comprises Sorin Moisa (S&D, Romania), Jude Kirton-Darling (S&D, UK), David Campbell-Bannerman (ECR, UK), Marietje Schaake (ALDE, Netherlands), Lola Sanchez Caldentey (GUE/NGL, Spain), David Borrelli (EFDD, Italy) and Marine Le Pen (ENF, France), and is scheduled to meet members from Canadian House of Commons international trade committee, representatives from the Canadian Ministry of Trade, and the CETA negotiator for Quebec.
Visits are planned to the Canadian aerospace and railway manufacturer Bombardier, and to the port of Montreal. In addition, meetings are scheduled with representatives from Canada's political opposition, civil society organisations, business associations, Canadian exporters and manufacturers, and the country's biggest union confederation, the Canadian Labour Congress.
The European Parliament's international trade committee is due to prepare a recommendation for the Parliament on whether to back or reject the CETA agreement, which was finalised on 29 February after legal scrubbing, and the agreement concluded between both parties on the investment protection chapter (see EUROPE 11501 and 11504).
After translation of the text of the agreement into all the official languages of the EU, the European Commission is due, at the end of the spring, to propose the text of the CETA agreement for ratification by the Council in June and by the European Parliament in September-October, with a view to provisional implementation of the agreement in 2017.
The EU and Canada formally concluded their bilateral Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on 26 September 2014 (see EUROPE 11164), a year after the agreement in principle on the content of this agreement on 18 October 2013 (see EUROPE 11946, 11947 and 11948). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)