CBC reports, “The European Union’s ban on the import of seal products was not discussed as part of the free trade negotiations between Canada and Europe… The seal ban was considered, but it was felt (presumably by the European Commission and Canadian negotiators) that the issue was a dispute best left to be resolved under the ongoing World Trade Organization dispute process.”
This is very interesting news given more than 100 Members of the European Parliament – a legislature which must approve the deal – signed a statement in 2011 asserting that the European Parliament ‘should not support the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement until Canada withdraws its WTO challenge against the EU Regulation on trade in seal products’.
“The WTO is expected to hand down its decision on (this issue) in just a few days.”
Today’s news report also notes that the Canadian Sealers’ Association is concerned that seals were not part of the deal recently signed in Brussels and that this will only be dealt with afterwards, presumably during the talks that still continue on the deal.
This creates a dynamic that may be important during the two-year ratification process. “As recently as this past April, then-fisheries minister Keith Ashfield and former health minister Leona Aglukkaq issued a joint statement calling the EU ban on seal products, ‘a political decision that has no basis in fact or science’.” But that’s not a view shared by the European Parliament, which voted by an overwhelming margin of 550 to 49 to impose the ban.
Perhaps of note too, the majority of Canadians agree with the European Parliament. An Environics poll found that 57 per cent of Canadian feel that the European Union ban on seal products is a step in the right direction.
Further reading
NEWS: 100 MEPs say, ‘No CETA if Harper challenges seal hunt ban at WTO’
NEWS: European General Court upholds EU seal product ban
NEWS: European MPs express skepticism/ opposition to CETA
EU parliament draws red lines through Canada-EU free trade talks
