At a hearing on Thursday 3 December with EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, French senators on the European Affairs Committee voiced their concerns about the effectiveness and sustainability of EU trade agreements.
The European Commissioner for Trade had, however, armed himself with arguments in favour of the Commission’s action. He took care to expose several values of French exports on the rise compared to the period “before CETA”. But the senators who spoke all left aside the balance of trade to look at the democratic, social and environmental conditions of the agreements, as well as the forms of unfair competition suffered by French farmers. Senator Didier Marie (Socialist Party) asked the Commissioner about partner countries that do not respect their commitments in terms of respect for workers. “I am thinking of Vietnam and South Korea in particular, which had pledged to ratify the International Labour Organization conventions and have not done so. How do you intend to enforce these commitments on these countries?”
This discussion follows France’s refusal, in September, to support the Mercosur/EU agreement, notably because of deforestation in the Amazon (see EUROPE 12563/28).
Senator Pascal Allizard (Les Républicains), rapporteur on CETA, reported very negative feedback from farmers on the trade agreement with Canada. “Canadians do not export meat carcasses, but noble cuts with cost prices 30 to 40% lower than those of the French. This is going to have a dramatic effect on our farmers. When you present statistics like you just did, taken by satellite, you don’t measure these things”, he told the Commissioner.
Valdis Dombrovskis reiterated that the Commission would address these concerns in the ongoing agreement negotiations, as well as early next year with its trade policy review. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)