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German top court backs EU-Canada trade deal Ceta


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German top court backs EU-Canada trade deal Ceta

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Germany's Constitutional Court has rejected a legal challenge to the EU-Canada free trade deal (Ceta) from campaigners who call it undemocratic. The campaigners object to the fact that parts of Ceta will be implemented before all national parliaments in the EU have voted on it. EU trade ministers are to decide on Ceta next Tuesday. If they all approve it, the deal can be signed with Canada on 27 October. Ceta would remove many trade barriers.

It would be the EU's most comprehensive trade deal to date, and the negotiations have taken seven years. More than 125,000 people signed a petition organised by three activist groups aimed at blocking Ceta, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. The groups are Compact, Foodwatch and More Democracy.

 

'Race to the bottom'

Opponents fear that Ceta will be used as a model to push through an even more controversial EU-US trade deal called TTIP, much of which remains to be negotiated. The activists argue that Ceta and similar deals put job security and social welfare at risk, in a global "race to the bottom" that serves the interests of a wealthy elite. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned on Thursday that "if Europe cannot manage to sign this agreement, then that sends a very clear message not just to Europeans but to the whole world that Europe is choosing a path that is not productive, either for its citizens or for the world, and that would be a shame".

German Economy Minister and Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has battled to win his Social Democrats (SPD) round to Ceta. The SPD is in government with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), who strongly support Ceta.

 

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Mr Gabriel said he was happy with Thursday's court ruling. Ceta, he said, would act as "protection against having a bad deal with the US". Some British politicians see Ceta as a good basis for a post-Brexit UK trade deal with the EU. The UK can vote for Ceta while it remains a full EU member. Ceta does not involve EU-style free movement of labour. But for services - 80% of the UK economy - the Ceta terms are less favourable than what they have now.
 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37642261

 

 

 

 

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The headline is kind of wrong. This was a preliminary hearing and the court has given the German government strict orders how to handle CETA in the meantime. The most important part of the ruling is that there must be an exit clause in the contract until the final ruling if the whole thing is unconstitutional is done.

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16 minutes ago, karbatal said:

What's the connection between German court and some EU business???? 

The argument is that the EU is not in the position to close a deal such as CETA without or before national parliaments have agreed upon the things that have been negotiated. Mainly because there are terms in the deal that may cost countries billions and billions of Euros of taxpayers money when Canadian or under TTIP US companies sue foreign countries for the loss of profits once those sovereign countries decide to change legislature that may influence those businesses, like environmental laws. Considering that Germany already guarantees for hundreds of billions of Euros because of the politics of the ECB, people are extremely sensitive to this issue. Keep in mind that the ECB became quite creative in selling state loans, which basically shifts the risk of defaulting credits to other member states, something that many consider a breach of the European treaty, that clearly says EU members shall not be held liable for other EU members financial problems. Back then when that happened they tried to bypass national parliaments as well. German people say this is unconstitutional and call upon the German constitutional court to check if decisions made are interfering with existing laws. It's to protect the sovereignty of Germany (I'm sure similar protests exist in other EU countries). The German parliament is bound to the decisions of the constitutional court. In result the German parliament will have to tell the EU parliament or EU commission they are not in the position to decide upon those wide ranging decisions before the German parliament has decided if they agree with the deal or not. The court has now preliminarily ruled that there is no reason to postpone the closing of the deal BUT there need to be an exit clause in the contract in case the court will finally rule that CETA is unconstitutional.

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