Brussels, 13/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 13 May, the European Commission confirmed to EU member states' trade ministers that it will make a formal proposal to the Council in June for the signature, it is hoped in October, of the Canada-EU trade agreement (CETA). This will then be submitted to the European Parliament for ratification in order for the agreement to provisionally come into force in early 2017.
Dutch trade minister Lilianne Plommen stated that the ministers, who had discussed the draft agreement, “were wholly in favour of the agreement and the objective is to get it signed at a Canada-EU summit in October”. She explained that the member states had reiterated their view that CETA is a mixed agreement.
Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said it was important for there to be unanimous support and all parties have pledged to move forwards and do their utmost to ratify the agreement, which could come into force after the European Parliament gives the green light and therefore the official EP procedures will begin after the Council's agreement.
Finalisation of the legal scrubbing of the agreement finalised on 29 February, and the agreement reached between the two sides on the chapter on protection of investment (see EUROPE 11501) have paved the way for the signature and ratification of the CETA by both sides.
The EU and Canada formally reached a bilateral agreement on trade and the economy, the CETA, on 26 September 2014 (see EUROPE 11164), a year after an agreement in principle of the contents of the agreement, reached on 18 October 2013 (see EUROPE 11946, 11947 and 11948). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)