On Friday 13 July, Italy's Minister for Economic Development and Labour and Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio, confirmed that the parliamentary majority in Italy would reject the free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada (CETA). Already ratified by the European Parliament, CETA also needs to be ratified by the national parliaments of the EU member states in order to enter fully into force and not become null and void.
"CETA will soon come to the (Italian) parliament for ratification and this majority will reject it", Di Maio stated, who is also the leader of Italy's anti-establishment movement, 5 Stelle.
"If just one of the Italian officials abroad continues to defend villainous treaties like CETA, he will be dismissed", Di Maio added. "To be here, for me, means to demand a bit of health sovereignty (...) If you deal with Italian products on the market, you try to defend them (...) We must defend Italy and the Italian economy", he said.
His colleague the agriculture minister, also from the 5 Stelle movement, Gian Marco Centinaio, announced on 14 June that Italy would not ratify CETA due to insufficient protection for its geographical indications (see EUROPE 12042).
Implemented provisionally (only its trade arrangements are applied) since 21 December 2107, CETA will be applied fully when it has been ratified by all the parliaments of the EU countries, paving the way for the implementation of its section on investments and their protection via a new arbitration system for disputes between investors and states.
At this stage, the national parliaments have ratified CETA in ten countries: Latvia, Denmark, Malta, Croatia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, and most recently, Austria on 13 June. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)