The European Commission informed at the beginning of this week that it will present the Comprehensive and Economic Agreement between the EU and Canada as a Mixed Agreement. According to the Commission this was a purely political decision and a concession to the European Council and the national parliaments to enable a speedy adoption. Hence, the massive protests by the civil population, labour representatives and NGOs have paid off. At the same time, CETA shall not be passed through based on the legal instrument of preliminary application.

During the press conference, Commission President Juncker and Trade Commissioner Malmström once again praised the Agreement and emphasized the importance to implement it as soon as possible. This would also be the main reason why CETA had been presented as a Mixed Agreement. In legal terms, they would be still convinced that the Agreement would fall within exclusive EU competence. To present it now as a Mixed Agreement was a purely political decision and a concession to the Council and to the Member States to guarantee a speedy implementation.

The fact that the Commission presents CETA as a Mixed Agreement is a interim success for civil society, employee and consumer organisations and NGOs. Right from the start, these had protested against certain contents of the Agreement (for example against the privileged rights for investors to sue states or against the notion that public services are not fully exempt from CETA) and pointed out that CETA is a Mixed Agreement - as it includes among other also the controversial investor protection regulations and regulatory cooperation. A small drawback: Trade Commissioner Malmström left a backdoor open by referring to the still outstanding judgement of the European Court of Justice on rating the EU-Singapore Agreement - it was still open to which extent this would have an impact on CETA.

Watch out for the red herring: preliminary application is imminent

According to the Commission, the further plan looks like this: once the Council had given the green light and the European Parliament its approval, everything is ready for the provisional application of CETA. According to the proposal of the Commission this should apply to the entire Agreement. This means that the Agreement will already be implemented BEFORE the approval or rejection of the national parliaments. However, it is quite obvious to the AK: a preliminary application of CETA or parts thereof has to be rejected. This would once again overlook/ignore the strong content-related and democratic objections against CETA.

How serious everybody is concerning a speedy implementation is also shown by the speed the Agreement shall be dealt with in the European Parliament. Information from parliamentary circles let it be known that the vote in the Trade Committee will already be taken at the end of November. Hence, CETA could be voted on in the plenum in December of this year.

Further information:

AK Position Paper: EU Trade and Investment Agreements TTIP and CETA

AK, ÖGB, DGB: CETA Publications

AK Position Paper: Communication of the EU Commission: Trade for all – Towards a more responsible trade and investment policy

EK: Comprehensive and Economic Agreement EU-Canada (CETA)

Press release of the Federal Chamber of Labour: CETA: Commission made the right decision (available only in German)