The EU Commission is deciding how the free trade deal between the EU and Canada will be ratified.
Since the Brexit vote, the conditions have shifted markedly.
Until recently, this was considered a done deal that would give a significant boost to Canadian exports, particularly of shrimp, lobster and crab. Now the deal may not happen as the EU struggles with the aftermath of the Brexit vote.
One proposal is for the deal to take effect if it is ratified by the EU Commission and the EU Parliament.
However, according to reports in the Financial Times, there is growing support in both Germany and France to have all 38 EU National parliaments vote on ratification. This would likely kill the trade deal.
The momentum for this is that these ministers do not want to set a precedent where any future deal with England would not require unanimous ratification by all EU parliamentary bodies, which include not only national legislatures, but some regional bodies as well.
If the CETA deal is put in place without national votes, they fear a Brexit deal could be handled the same way.
The EU commission fears a ratification process for the Canada deal could take even longer than the four years it took to approve a recent EU-South Korea agreement. Some worry that it may never be completed.
According to the Financial Times “Diplomats and officials see a point of principle at stake which will set a precedent for future trade talks, including potentially with the UK, depending on the approach Britain takes to negotiating its new, post-Brexit, arrangements with the EU.”
CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU) has become a target for left-wing parties and anti-globalization activities in a number of countries, including Germany, Austria, France and Belgium, partly out of concerns that it would act as a stalking horse for a larger trade deal, known as a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, that is being negotiated with the U.S.
In the current climate, an action by the EU Commission to rush ratification could enrage the forces that already are arguing the EU has overstepped national concerns to too great an extent.
In May an overwhelming majority of EU members called for a national ratification process at a meeting of EU trade ministers.
Both Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, and François Hollande, the French president, said after a recent EU summit that national parliaments should get to debate CETA and in both France and Germany this was taken as support of national ratifications.
This article was republished with permission of John Sackton and seafood.com.
