The Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, reviewed, on Friday 9 February with the Canadian Minister for International Trade, Mary Ng, the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), as part of the annual CETA Joint Committee Meeting.
“By 2022, our trade in goods increased by 66% and our trade in services by 62% compared to pre-CETA levels (2016). The latest figures confirm this upward trend”, said a delighted Mr Dombrovskis to the press.
The two parties assessed the economic impact of CETA, which is still in the provisional application phase pending ratification by ten Member States, and set priorities for future cooperation.
The meeting of the Joint Committee enabled the two partners to agree on “an interpretation relating to the Investment Court System” (see EUROPE 12648/9). These elements of interpretation clarify the following three things: - the concept of fair and equitable treatment; - indirect expropriation; - the parties’ right to regulate in the context of climate change policies.
The EU and Canada want to prevent the courts from interpreting these three concepts too broadly.
The parties also announced the conclusion of negotiations at the technical level to facilitate access for SMEs to the settlement of investment disputes and to ensure that the new rules reduce the length of proceedings before the court, and therefore costs.
Ms Ng stressed the vital role of SMEs, which “make up 99% of our economy in Canada. They are extremely important, just as they are in Europe”.
Both parties also welcomed the progress made towards the adoption of a CETA Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) for the professional qualifications of architects and the extension of the scope of the CETA Protocol on the mutual recognition of the compliance and enforcement programme regarding good manufacturing practices for pharmaceutical products.
However, ratification of the agreement by all the Member States is necessary to ensure that all of CETA’s provisions come into force and to “remove the uncertainty”, as the Vice-President pointed out.
Ms Ng, for her part, welcomed the ratification measures taken by the Netherlands and Germany, and expressed her confidence that other EU countries would follow suit.
On the subject of agricultural protests in Europe, Mr Dombrovskis acknowledged the current concerns and assured that, according to several studies, the cumulative impact of free trade agreements on the agricultural sector in the EU remains positive. “This supports the promotion of EU exports, and the measures have not had any disruptive effects on the European market”, he maintained, adding that a new study on the subject would soon be published. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)