MEPs call for swift ratification of CETA

“If we don’t make a deal with the Canadians, I don’t know with whom we will make trade agreements”, warned the MEP and chair of the delegation for relations with Canada, Javier Moreno Sánchez (S&D, Spanish). The majority of political groups represented in the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) agreed that Canada is a major partner that shares European values, during an exchange of views on Wednesday, 31 August. “With such serious partners, the ratification process must be accelerated”, Moreno Sánchez told his colleagues.

His comments were supported by the Chair of the INTA Committee, Bernd Lange (S&D, German), who said it was unacceptable that the agreement had not yet been ratified by all Member States. The European Parliament, in turn, had ratified the agreement by 2017, allowing for the provisional application of the trade provisions (see EUROPE B11726A1). The two Socialist MEPs were joined by their colleagues from the EPP and Renew Europe, European conservatives and reformists, as well as Canada’s ambassador to the EU, Ailish Campbell. The Greens/EFA and The Left questioned how the EU and Canada could update the sustainable development chapters in the agreement in line with the new approach presented by the European Commission in June (see EUROPE B12977A13). [...]