Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern says he is opposed to the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
Reuters reports, “Austria is ready to confront other European Union members states over its opposition to a free trade deal with Canada, Kern said, because it sees it containing many of the same problems as one being negotiated with the United States. Austria opposes a proposed free trade deal with the United States, and Kern said the deal with Canada had many of the same problems. ‘This will be difficult, this will be the next conflict in the EU that Austria will trigger … We must focus on making sure … we don’t shift the power balance in favour of global enterprises’, Kern told broadcaster ORF…”
As chancellor, Kern is the head of the government in Austria. He is also the chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). Kern leads a coalition government formed between the SPÖ and the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP).
In September 2014, the National Council (one of the two houses of the Austrian parliament) passed a resolution introduced by the SPÖ and the ÖVP stating that CETA negotiations need to be continued even after the ‘signing’ summit that month in Ottawa, that there is no need for an investor-state clause in CETA, and that CETA is a mixed agreement and therefore the ratification process must involve all national parliaments. The Greens and the Neos (the New Austria Party) also oppose the investor-state dispute settlement provision in CETA.
Kern replaced Werner Faymann after he resigned in May 2016.
In May 2015, the German-language newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that Faymann, also a member of the SPÖ, “has practiced severe criticism of the planned free trade agreement CETA and TTIP. The planned special rights for groups he considered dangerous… Public courts and the rule of law would be undermined by private arbitration. The ready-negotiated agreement with Canada, he questioned. The results presented by the EU he was not satisfied, he continued, ‘Austria wants an agreement without ISDS’.”
In November 2015, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow spoke against CETA at a public forum in Vienna. Barlow and trade campaigner Sujata Dey also met with members of the Austrian Parliament (Österreichisches Parlament), including members of the SPÖ and the GRÜNE, The Greens – The Green Alternative.
On April 19 of this year, the German-language Austrian newspaper Der Standard carried a feature interview with Barlow. That interview included:
Q: “German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes free trade is always good. Is free trade because always negative?”
A: “I’m not against trade, but ‘free trade’ is a problem. The economy must serve people, not vice versa. When corporations talk of free trade, they mean freedom for themselves and not for the rest of us. We have lived in Canada under NAFTA for 22 years and none of the promises of wealth and jobs have come true.”
And earlier this week the Vienna-based newspaper Wiener Zeitung (which has 24,000 readers) reported (in German), “Several NGOs, including Global 2000 and ÖBV Via Campesina Austria, referring to a report published on Monday [August 29] by the Canadian NGO Council of Canadians, which warns against the adverse environment and health of Canadian food. In the same report also noted Team Stronach club chairman Robert Lugar and demanded to prevent this ‘attack on the health and environment of the Austrians’ by all means.”
Today’s Reuters article notes, “European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker told Austria in June to stop its ‘clownery’ around CETA, calling it the best trade agreement reached by the EU.” The commission president said this despite the fact that 155,864 Austrians have signed a petition saying that CETA should not be ratified.
Chancellor Kern is expected to make further comments about CETA at a media conference on Friday (September 2).
