On Thursday 1 February, the French National Assembly (lower chamber of the French Parliament) rejected a resolution proposed by an opposition party (La France insoumise) calling for France's ratification of the EU-Canada free trade agreement (CETA) to be done through referendum.
Signed on 30 October 2016 and ratified by the European Parliament on 15 February 2017, then by the Canadian Parliament on 16 May 2017, CETA entered into force provisionally on 21 September 2017.
CETA will be fully implemented as soon as all the EU member states have ratified it, in line with their respective constitutional requirements, paving the way to the implementation of the arbitration mechanism provided for to settle the disputes between investors and states, the Investment Court Systems (ICS) – which is called on to replace the old ISDS system.
At this stage, eight member states have notified the EU Council of CETA's ratification by their national parliaments: Latvia, Denmark, Malta, Croatia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Spain and Portugal. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)