The Globe and Mail reports, “Canadian trade negotiators are running up against bureaucratic infighting among European Union officials, who are backing away from earlier commitments in talks for a Canada-EU trade deal – increasing the chances Stephen Harper will return home empty-handed after a week-long trip to the region. …Sources familiar with the talks say in more than one instance Canadians felt they’d locked down agreement with the Europeans on a topic, only to see that consensus unravel because directorates in the EU bureaucracy hadn’t signed off on the terms. They say this has happened in negotiations over trade in services, slowing the momentum of the talks, which have already been under way for four years.”
The push has been on by Canadian negotiators with the hope that Harper could announce the conclusion of the talks by today, when the G8 summit concludes in Northern Ireland. To make this happen, the Harper government has been making concessions to the Europeans. “In recent days, the federal government has agreed to make it easier for European Union companies to acquire Canadian businesses. Sources last week told The Globe and Mail Canada has consented to raising the minimum threshold for scrutinizing foreign takeovers by EU companies to $1.5-billion. Deals below that level would not require government consent to proceed. …Canada has also agreed to grant EU firms greater access to bidding on procurement for provincial utilities as well as improved access to sheltered sectors such as telecommunications, according to sources close to the talks.”
And there is a new threat on the immediate horizon for the CETA talks. “Friction in negotiations comes as a bigger trade fish looms for the European Union: the United States. Leaders of both countries at the G8 meetings in Northern Ireland Monday said they plan to start EU-U.S. trade agreement talks next month – a development that threatens to overshadow Canada’s negotiations with Brussels. …The EU-U.S. negotiations will begin in July in Washington, and the European Union hopes to have a deal done within a couple of years.”
“Canada has been negotiating a trade deal with the EU for four years, and Canadian officials had hoped to sign an agreement before the EU began negotiations with the U.S. But if anything the trip has illustrated how far away a deal seems. During Mr. Harper’s visit to Paris last week, French President François Hollande said he hoped the Canadian deal could be completed in the coming months. Mr. Harper has insisted that Canada will not set a deadline for the talks.” But Harper himself has set deadlines in the past. Ten days ago, CBC reported, “The negotiations have been dragging on for years. CETA was supposed to be done in 2011, then 2012, and now mid-way through 2013 it is yet to be signed.”
It is important to note that even if CETA were to be signed at some point this summer, a two-year ratification process is still expected with numerous opportunities for us to derail the final deal given Canadian cities have called to be exempted from the deal, the need for provincial buy-in and the negative impacts the deal would have on the provinces, and opposition within the European Parliament.
For more, please read:
AUDIO: Trade campaigner Stuart Trew on CBC Radio’s The Current
Our CETA campaign web-page
