The European-Canadian trade agreement CETA has been discussed for a long time – now that the Bundestag has ratified it. 558 votes adopted the bill, for the coalition fractions and the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. The CETA agreement has thus been ratified. The AfD and DIE LINKE parliamentary groups and three members of the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group voted against them.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a free trade agreement between the EU and Canada. Through common rules and open markets, it helps provide fair and reasonable regulations for advancing globalisation and actively shaping it.
Virtually no more tariffs for industrial goods, significantly improved European companies’ access to the Canadian market, and lower costs for small and medium-sized businesses thanks to common rules: These are just three points of the joint trade agreement. In CETA, the EU and Canada have agreed on high standards that will set the benchmark for future trade agreements.
The technical negotiations on CETA were concluded in August 2014. On 30 October 2016, the EU and Canada signed the free trade agreement. On 15 February 2017, the European Parliament approved CETA. On 21 September 2017, CETA entered into force provisionally. The provisional application applies only to areas indisputably within the EU’s competence. For it to enter into full force, it must be ratified by the parliaments of all 27 EU member states.
Canada is already a significant partner for Europe – and vice versa. Around 9.5 per cent of Canada’s foreign trade is with the 27 EU member states, and German SMEs already invest and export heavily to and from Canada. CETA will further intensify economic relations.
But there has also been criticism of the CETA agreement. The Economic Committee of the German Bundestag invited experts to weigh the pros and cons. Further information: bundestag.de
Source: www.loyensloeff.com/insights
