EU Parliament approves CETA

The European Parliament approved the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada (CETA) on Wednesday, February 15, 2017. The agreement is supposed to bring the two markets closer together at the time when numerous political forces, such as American President Donald Trump, are countering globalization.

Following years of negotiations and a three-hour deliberation, 408 MEPs voted for the agreement, 254 voted against and 33 withheld their votes.

This marks the end of the process of ratifying the agreement in the European institutions, and the parliaments of the 28 EU member states are now to vote on it.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the European Parliament building in Strasbourg on Tuesday. They believe that, instead of securing the growth and new jobs, the agreement will lead to the lowering of ecological, working and consumer standards in EU.

European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom said that the agreement which would unify the markets of 500 million Europeans and 35 million Canadians will not jeopardize EU’s decision-making independence. She said that the agreement “will not change food safety standards or any other EU requirements, only the EU institutions can do that”.

The trade between EU and Canada exceeds EUR 60 billion a year and EU expect CETA to lead to an increase of 20%, as it will abolish nearly all customs duties.

After seven years of negotiations, the leaders of the European Union and Canada signed a free trade agreement abolishing customs duties on 98% of products in October 2016.

Evropski parlament Brisel

European Parliament

EU Canada trade agreement

Cecilia Malmstrom

trade between EU and Canada

CETA

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