On Wednesday, July 3, the French government validated the free trade agreement between the European Union and its Canadian partner and initiated the accelerated procedure on its draft text, which should be ratified on July 17, 2019 by the French National Assembly.
The day before, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State to the Minister for Europe, had stated that the agreement represented "many great opportunities" for French companies and sectors.
In an interview with "Le Monde" (also published on the government website), he noted that the treaty "was subject to an independent evaluation before ratification took place. It will be referred to the National Assembly on 17 July," he added, underlining the government's desire to fully inform the public and parliamentarians.
He also extolled its benefits, pointing out that in 2018, France had "increased [its] exports to Canada by 6.5%, and France's trade surplus had increased from 50 to 450 million euros".
According to an impact study by the Centre d'études prospectives et d'informations internationales (CEPII), France's CO2 emissions will not increase as a result of CETA, the Secretary of State pointed out, observing that a climate veto has been created "in order to guarantee States their sovereignty to legislate on the environment and social issues".
Finally, rejecting CETA would be like pushing Canadians into the arms of their natural partner, the United States, Lemoyne warned.
The Assembly's first reading of the draft text is scheduled for Tuesday, 9 July.
Green MEPs against CETA
French environmental MEPs took up the challenge on Thursday 4 July to invite the public to demonstrate against an agreement they consider not only "dangerous for the climate, the environment, health and agriculture", but also for "legal and democratic sovereignty". In fact, the ratification of this agreement by the Member States will allow the establishment of the renewed investor-State dispute settlement mechanism ('Investment Court System' or ICS).
They also denounce the fact that the elements previously criticised in October 2017 by the commission of experts in charge of evaluating the environmental impact of CETA were not taken into account.
Civil society organisations also complained: on 2 July, representatives of 72 French civil society organisations had, in an open letter, "formally" asked MEPs not to ratify the CETA.
The reception in France by various stakeholders of the trade agreement with Mercosur, concluded on 30 June, will undoubtedly reinforce the controversy.
Overview of ratification in the EU
Provisionally implemented since September 2018, to be fully operational, this agreement known as a 'mixed' competence agreement must be ratified by all Member States (see EUROPE 12100/19), so the Treaty has only been provisionally applied.
In addition to France, 15 Member States have not yet ratified it, but many of them have launched their procedures since the opinion of the Court of Justice on 30 April (see EUROPE 12285/6 for an overview).
This is not the case in Poland, where the decision to start the ratification process has not yet been taken. Polish legislators prefer to wait until all the elements related to the functioning of the ICS, such as the selection of arbitrators or the code of conduct for arbitrators, have been finalised and made available, according to a European source. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)