10/01/24 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 10 January, three German organisations - Mehr Demokratie, Foodwatch and Campact - announced that they had lodged a constitutional appeal against the free trade agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA). The NGOs explain that their appeal targets the agreement as validated by the German authorities, in particular “the committee system and the arbitration tribunals”. In their view, “arbitration tribunals lack democratic legitimacy and have enormous decision-making power - with major consequences for citizens”. CETA entered into force provisionally in 2017 and was ratified by the Bundestag and Bundesrat in January 2023. Back in 2016, the three organisations lodged an initial constitutional appeal, which was partially accepted: in 2016, the German Constitutional Court imposed conditions on the provisional application of the CETA. See the organisations' declaration (in German): https://aeur.eu/f/abr (IS)