Tomorrow, Thursday 21 September, the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) will be provisionally applied: over 90 percent of the deal’s provisions will begin taking effect tomorrow, but matters such as investment protection and the new investment court system, requiring unanimous approval by EU member states, will have to wait.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has been pressing with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) for improvements throughout the long negotiations.
“The final text of CETA is not fully in line with our expectations,” said Liina Carr, ETUC Confederal Secretary “particularly when it comes to public services, investment protection and enforceability of labour rights.”
“We call on the European Commission and the Canadian government to trigger the review clause of the Sustainable Development Chapter (Article 23.11.5) to include enforceable labour rights.”
“The ETUC is in favour of fair and sustainable international trade” added Liina Carr. “The challenge is to improve CETA and all post-CETA trade and investment deals, to ensure they give workers’ rights the same importance as investors’ rights, and safeguard public services and environmental and consumer standards.”
The ETUC is also calling for the ‘Domestic Advisory Group’ and Civil society forum envisaged by CETA to be set up urgently so that the they can start their work monitoring the provisional implementation of CETA.
For more on ETUC’s ‘Progressive Trade Agenda’ see
https://www.etuc.org/documents/etuc-resolution-eu-progressive-trade-and-investment-policy-adopted-executive-committee
