The European Union and Canada signed
a free trade agreement on Sunday that aims to generate jobs and growth though
it must still clear some 40 national and regional parliaments in Europe in the
coming years to enter fully into force.
(L-R) European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, European Council President Donald Tusk and Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico attend the signing ceremony of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), at the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, October 30, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau signed the treaty along with the heads of EU institutions, a step that
should enable a provisional implementation of the pact early in 2017 with the
removal of most import duties.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade
Agreement's (CETA) passage has not been smooth.
French-speakers in southern Belgium,
a minority within their own small country and accounting for less than 1
percent of the 508 million EU consumers likely to be affected by CETA, raised
objections that held up the deal until a breakthrough on Thursday, confirmed by
regional parliamentary votes on Friday.
"We are setting standards which
will determine globalization in the coming years," European Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker told a news conference alongside Trudeau.
"Nothing in other trade agreements will be able to remain below the level
of what we have reached today with Canada."
The Canada agreement is seen as a
springboard to a larger EU deal with the United States, known as the Transatlantic
Trade and Investment Treaty (TTIP), which has been the target of labor unions
and environmental and other protest groups.
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia
Malmstrom said TTIP talks are not dead, contrary to what some politicians in
Germany and France have said, but would need to wait for the next U.S.
president - who will take office in January - to resume.
Supporters say CETA will increase
Canadian-EU trade by 20 percent and boost the EU economy by 12 billion euros
($13 billion) a year and Canada's by C$12 billion ($9 billion).
For Canada the deal is important to
reduce its reliance on the neighboring United States as an export market.
For the EU, it is a first trade pact
with a G7 country and a success plucked from the jaws of defeat at a time when
the bloc's credibility has taken a beating from Britain's vote in June to leave
after 43 years of membership.
Around 100 anti-globalization
protesters clashed with police outside the venue in Brussels, trying to break
down barriers in front of the main entrance and hurling red paint. A Reuters
photographer saw police detain some people.
NOT THE LAST ACT
Sunday's signing will not be the last
act.
Assuming the European Parliament
gives its assent, CETA could come into force partially early next year.
However, full implementation, which would include a contentious investment
protection system, will ensue only after clearance by more than three dozen national
and regional parliaments.
The Belgian experience shows this
outcome is no given, but Trudeau said provisional application would unlock 98
percent of CETA's key measures and that consumers and businesses would
immediately feel its benefits.
"We are confident that demonstrating that trade
is good for the middle classes (...) will make sure that everybody gets that
this is a good thing for our economies and that it is also a good thing for the
world," Trudeau said.
The main focus of protests against CETA and TTIP
remains the system to protect foreign company's investments. Critics say its
provision for arbitration panels to rule on disputes with states can be abused
by multinational companies to dictate public policy, such as on environmental
standards.
The EU and Canada say their investment protection
system guarantees the right of governments to regulate, make use of independent
judges and be more transparent.
The deal will eliminate tariffs on almost 99 percent
of goods. The beneficiaries would include, for example, carmakers or the EU
textile sector, for which Canadian duties of up to 18 percent can be imposed at
present.
Service companies could also benefit and EU companies
would be able to tender for public contracts at Canadian provincial and municipal
level, the first time Canada has offered this.
Canada would be able to send larger quotas of pork,
beef and wheat to the EU market, and EU dairy producers would be able to export
more than double the current amount of "high quality" cheeses to Canada.
(Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek, Philip Blenkinsop
and Francois Lenoir; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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