Having issued a warning midweek that Austria was ready to start a "conflict" to block the EU-Canada free-trade agreement (CETA), the Austrian Chancellor, Christian Kern, softened his stance on Friday 2 September, whilst reiterating his concerns over investment protection and the defence of social and environmental standards.
"It will be difficult, it will be the next conflict to be started by Austria within the EU (…). We must tread carefully (…) so as not to tip the balance of power in favour of multinationals", Kern told the Austrian broadcaster ÖRF on Wednesday 31 August.
Kern expressed the view that the CETA, which was concluded at the end of 2014 and then put back to early 2016 on its investment protection chapter and with a signature and ratification process due to open this autumn for a provisional entry into force in 2017, raised many problems identical to those contained in the future EU-United States free-trade agreement (TTIP). "We will need to have a look where the weaknesses (of the CETA) lie. Many people feel that these are the same as with the TTIP", he said, without going into any details.
At a press conference in Vienna on Friday, Kern did not repeat the word "conflict" he had used on Wednesday, the news agency Reuters reports. The Austrian Chancellor has launched a campaign to inform members of his own Social Democrat party about both CETA and TTIP – both of these agreements having awoken a lot of hostility in the general public of the country – stating that he would invite experts and decision-makers to join in with a "nuanced and well-balanced debate". The members of his party will have the option to take position for or against certain aspects of the agreements to help the government to reach its position, he explained.
Kern expressed particular concern at the mechanism that would allow investors to challenge public policies if they felt that they had suffered as a result of regulations which put them into a disadvantageous situation, stressing that such a mechanism would harm social and environmental standards in Europe.
"The cleanest path would be to renegotiate. But I believe that will be difficult. Apart from us, almost nobody wants to completely reopen this cask", said the Austrian Chancellor, adding that he would give as much power as possible to the national parliaments over investment disputes and environmental and social standards.
On Friday morning, the Deputy Chancellor and Minister for the Economy, Reinhold Mitterlehner, leader of the conservatives in the Austrian government coalition, spoke in favour of the CETA. "It would be impossible to renegotiate the CETA chapter by chapter. Should we decide against the agreement, we would probably be outvoted because a qualified majority (of EU states) in favour of the CETA is emerging. In the opinion of many experts, it is a good agreement. It will help Canada and the EU", he said, as reported by the Austrian daily newspaper Kurier.
Also on Friday morning, over at the European Parliament, the chair of the committee on foreign affairs, German MEP Elmar Brok (EPP), and Daniel Caspary, the EPP group's leader in the committee on international trade, spoke out against Kern's "irresponsibility", accusing him of "joining the choir of populists". "The CETA clearly is in the interest of Austria, Germany and the whole of Europe. The final CETA text clearly sticks to the negotiation mandate unanimously adopted by the Council and implements all requests made by the European Parliament. The CETA, as well as a balanced TTIP, are essential tools to shape globalisation. Those who try to surf on the wave of populism are usually washed away by it", they warned. (Original in French by Emmanuel Hagry)