CETA: Wallonia holds firm on CETA . . . .

[Oscar]

WIN! Wallonia holds firm on CETA, Oct. 27 signing ceremony now improbable

[ http://canadians.org/blog/win-wallonia- ... improbable ]

October 21, 2016 - 8:39am

The Belgian region of Wallonia is holding firm in its opposition to the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Earlier this week, European trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom had said that if the Council of the European Union (which is comprised of representatives from the 28 member states of the European Union) could not reach an agreement by today, then the CETA signing ceremony scheduled for October 27 would have to be cancelled.

News reports now suggest that negotiations will extend into the weekend to try to reach a deal, but given the depth of concerns that were expressed by Walloon minister-president Paul Magnette in an address to the Wallonian parliament today that prospect is highly unlikely.

Council of Canadians trade campaigner Sujata Dey is in Belgium now and has been following the debate in the Wallonian parliament in Namur.

She tells us that Wallonia is opposed to the negative list approve on services (and wants the right to remunicipalization), is opposed to the investment court system (and wants to ensure that it could not be provisionally applied), says that the side declaration to the deal is insufficient (and wants legally-binding mechanisms in it), is concerned that Belgium does not have provisions within the deal to protect them from a flood of dairy imports (and wants such a provision), and is concerned that there are no protections for Belgian geographic indicators (and wants those in the deal).

Magnette stated this morning, "We have clearly indicated, for more than a year, that we have a real difficulty with the arbitration mechanism, which could be used by multinationals based in Canada, that are not really Canadian companies, and on this point we find the proposals insufficient." And Politico reports, "[Magnette says] the division of responsibilities between the jurisdiction of national courts and the supranational court system in CETA remained too opaque." And the EU Observer quotes Magnette stating, "Difficulties remain, especially on a symbolic and extremely important politically issue: the settlement mechanism. The mechanism is not described with precision. It's like buying a cat in a bag."

Overall, Wallonia sees the deal as a reflection of corporate globalization that gives transnationals immense power over the state.

And Magnette rejects the artificial deadline of having to reach an agreement today or this weekend.

Magnette says, “I plead that, in an amicable way, we jointly postpone the EU-Canada summit and that we give ourselves time." He adds, "We have time constraints. It’s that, at this stage, even if I plead, plead, plead that in a totally amicable way we could agree to push back the Europe-Canada summit and take time to examine things, up until now, I can’t manage to convince them on this point of view."

The EU Observer also quotes Belgian prime minister Charles Michel saying he had "spent the night trying to find formulas, solutions" to this impasse, including talking with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but that no answers were forthcoming.

Following the conclusion of today's Council of the European Union meeting, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker stated, "I do not despair that we will find a solution in the coming days."

But pressure and spin aside, all of this suggests that there will not be a CETA signing ceremony on October 27 - and that instead, if CETA negotiations don't completely collapse, that we could see a period of regrouping and many more months of renegotiating some of the fundamental provisions of the deal.

#StopCETA

Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ http://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]

[Oscar]

Wallonia holds firm against CETA, Trudeau sets Monday as deadline to resolve impasse

[ http://canadians.org/blog/wallonia-hold ... ve-impasse ]

October 23, 2016 - 7:19am

Council of Canadians political director Brent Patterson on CTV National News last night supporting Wallonian opposition to CETA and highlighting the deal would have negative consequences for people and the environment.

Despite an intervention by European Parliament president Martin Schulz yesterday, Walloon minister-president Paul Magnette is holding firm on his refusal to agree to the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) signing ceremony this coming Thursday (October 27).

Magnette says, "I think it's worth taking a little more time."

As such, the deadline to resolve this impasse has been shifted from this past Friday, to this weekend, while one news report says that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has now set this Monday as his deadline. Another news report suggests the deadline could be as late as Wednesday, the day before the summit.

Canadian trade minister Chrystia Freeland was in Brussels yesterday meeting with Schulz, but has now returned to Canada saying that she hopes to be back in Brussels with Trudeau on Thursday for the signing of CETA. But that seems unlikely given the depth of Wallonia's concerns about the deal.

The Associated Press reports, "Politicians in Wallonia argue the proposed deal would undermine labour, environment and consumer standards and allow multinationals to crush local companies."

BNN adds, "The Walloon government was awaiting new proposals from the European Commission, according to a source close to Magnette. They would need to be presented to the regional parliament, although no date had been set for this. Walloons have concerns about the threat of surging pork and beef imports from Canada and an independent court system to settle disputes between states and foreign investors, which critics fear hands power to multinationals. Once the core of the Belgian economy, Wallonia has seen coal mines shut and steel jobs disappear and distrusts globalization. Just last month, Caterpillar announced plans to close a plant there, cutting some 2,000 jobs."

David Kleimann, a researcher at the European University Institute, has told CBC News the fate of Wallonia's vocal and powerful farmers has been central to the region's trade objections. Kleimann highlights, "The Walloons are having trouble [understanding] the investment protection provisions of the treaty, as well as the validity [of the] EU ban [on] hormone-treated beef."

And from Belgium, Council of Canadians trade campaigner Sujata Dey tells us that beyond these issues, Wallonia is also concerned about the deal's negative list on services (meaning it applies to every service unless otherwise stated thus raising concerns about privatization and the ability to remunicipalize a public service), the lack of protection from a flood of dairy imports, the lack of Belgian geographic indicators (that protect products that are deeply rooted in tradition, culture and geography), and says that the side declaration to the deal that was intended to assuage concerns is not legally-binding.

The Council of Canadians celebrates European opposition to CETA.

We have been highlighting that not only does Wallonia have the constitutional right to refuse to agree to CETA, but also that more than 3.5 million Europeans have signed a petition against CETA, that 320,000 people marched against CETA in cities across Germany last month, that 88 per cent of Austrians oppose CETA because it shifts power to transnational corporations, that 81 per cent of people in France said they believed CETA would undermine French standards protecting health, food quality, the environment and the climate, and that several other EU member state governments have concerns about CETA but were unwilling to block the deal.
Yesterday, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow stated, "There is no way to meet the demands of the millions in Europe opposed to CETA without opening the deal itself. Wallonia's courageous stand will send our governments back to the drawing board, hopefully to think about a very different kind of trade agreement based on the values of sustainability and justice."

The Council of Canadians is calling on Trudeau and Freeland to agree to postpone the October 27 signing ceremony and to a substantive renegotiation of the pact.

Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ http://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]

[Oscar]

October 17, 2016

Paul Magnette
Ministre-Président de la Wallonie
Rue Mazy, 25-27
5100 Namur
[ http://magnette.wallonie.be/contact ]

Open letter to the People of Wallonia and their Representatives in the Walloon Parliament
[ http://www.nfu.ca/story/open-letter-peo ... parliament ]

As farmers organized in the National Farmers Union in Canada, we are encouraged to see that your elected assembly has taken a strong stance against the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA).

We are sure that in weighing pros and cons of this deal, you are able to point out the losses it would bring for farmers in your region. As Canadian farmers, we also have very concrete concerns about this agreement. CETA would damage our protected dairy market, betray farmers’ interests in intellectual property protection related to seeds, obstruct local food procurement and further entrench the deterioration of transportation and regulatory policy.

Less tangible, but even more dangerous, are CETA’s Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanisms and other ratchet clauses, which fundamentally restrict jurisdictions’ ability to pass laws and regulations to uphold or improve social standards, grassroots economic interests and environmental protection. If an elected government uses its legislative power in the public interest, under CETA it risks being sued or forced to pay for lost future profits claimed by so-called foreign investors. As members of a democratic nation, this is unacceptable to us.

We congratulate you for your strong stance against CETA in spite of all the pressure on you to abandon this principled position. We want to let you know that in Canada, public debate on CETA has been more of a public relations campaign than a true, informed analysis of its consequences. While opposition to CETA appears to be weak in Canada, rest assured that your analysis of CETA highlights concerns shared by many Canadian civil society organizations, including our own.

Keep up the good work of protecting your democratic rights.

Sincerely,

Jan Slomp
President, National Farmers Union in Canada

[Oscar]

CETA has bigger problems than not-so-'tiny'-after-all Wallonia

[ http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/karl-ne ... l-wallonia ]

By Karl Nerenberg | October 25, 2016

The Council of Canadians is exultant about the potential demise of a Canada/EU trade agreement.

"Democracy has prevailed and the agenda to boost corporate rights is in tatters," says Maude Barlow, the Council's national chairperson. "This isn't about internal Belgian politics. Millions of people across Europe and Canada have rejected this deal, including many Members of European Parliament, unions, environmental groups and farmers."

Green Party leader Elizabeth May is almost as pleased.

"I applaud the Wallonian regional parliament for standing firmly against this bad deal. In its current form, [the agreement] will increase pharmaceutical costs and hurt farmers, manufacturing sectors, and Canadian sovereignty."

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is unhappy, to put it mildly. It believes the collapse of talks between Canada and the EU represents a "serious set-back for efforts to restore economic growth."

"It would be hard to find two partners that are better-suited to building an economic alliance, so it's incredibly disappointing to see the agreement fall short of the finish line by a few inches," says a chagrined Perrin Beatty, the Chamber's CEO.

The Official Opposition Conservatives are also, officially, disappointed.

But their tears seem, perhaps, a bit crocodilian.

Conservatives point out that for most of their tenure in office they kept the talks going, productively. Now, they are not unhappy to hang what looks like failure at the eleventh hour around the neck of the Liberals.

"It's unfortunate," intoned Conservative trade critic Gerry Ritz, "To see all the work that we did, the blood, sweat and tears over the last seven, eight years now going down the drain."

As for the New Democrats, well they are profoundly ambivalent, as they have been throughout these trade negotiations.

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