On Thursday and Friday (22 & 23 September), EU trade ministers are set to decide whether to endorse CETA, and on the next steps for its ratification. Business is highly nervous about the prospects the Canadian trade deal awaiting signature and ratification. It is also highly dissatisfied about the Commission’s decision to declare it …
North America
Business group anticipates TTIP negotiation halt in 2017
EU leaders are getting prepared for a halt to TTIP negotiations in 2017.
German Social Democrats greenlight CETA – ask for future revisions
Germany’s social-democratic party has endorsed the EU Canadian trade agreement CETA at a party convention on Monday (19 September). This move increases the chances that the treaty will be ratified by Germany, but does not give Brussels and Ottawa a blank cheque. The approval came after SPD …
Head of German Catholic Church says TTIP can contribute to fairer world economic order
He is Catholic, he is German, and his family name is Marx. You’d think he is against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership currently under negotiation between the EU and the United States. But in fact he approves of TTIP. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German Bishop’s Conference, and also …
Malmström and Freeland ready to offer further clarifications on CETA
Canada and the Commission are to offer further clarifications on CETA ahead of a meeting of member states on the EU-Canadian trade deal. The German social democrats – the SPD – received only part of what they asked for. After Germany’s Sigmar Gabriel, the country’s vice chancellor went to Canada on Thursday …
Comment – CETA and TTIP: twelve apostles do not a majority make
A letter by twelve EU member states supporting the Commission in its endeavour to see through the trade agreement concluded with Canada (CETA) this autumn and to finalise TTIP negotiations with the United States was received as a weak and puny last ditch attempt to salvage the projects. But does …
Jean-Claude Juncker presses for CETA
Commission president Juncker called on the EU to ratify CETA, the trade agreement with Canada concluded in February, and urged member states to accept reforms to the EU’s antidumping laws. “One billion more worth of exports creates fourteen thousand extra jobs in Europe”, Juncker said. “This is in …
Germany: how minority groups have come to dominate the public debate on TTIP
Origin of the graph: Matthias Bauer, ECIPE. Has Germany’s public debate on TTIP been hijacked by two minority political parties? At least some evidence is now emerging that the discussion on the transatlantic treaty has been distorted by a highly active network of ‘civil society’ groups gravitating around the …
In brief: Glimpses of TTIP’s institutional setup
TTIP’s institutional setup is shaping up to become quite inclusive. Too much perhaps? The ten ‘textual proposals’ the EU Commission tabled to the United States Trade Representative during the fourtenth round of negotiations in July are gradually being unplucked and analysed by experts. Elaine Fahey is one of those geeky law …
Why Germany won’t likely reject CETA
CETA currently stands good chances of adoption in the expected forthcoming national ratification process in Germany. Germany’s political parties are preparing to grapple with the ratification of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement – CETA – with Canada. The junior coalition governing party SPD is bracing for a showdown on CETA as its leadership …
