Dispute over CITA: Constitutional Court Approves Provisional Application of Canada Accord

The Federal Constitutional Court has finally dismissed all five lawsuits by critics of the European-Canadian trade agreement CETA. The decision on the provisional application of the settlement from October 2016 was not objectionable, judges in Karlsruhe announced Tuesday after nearly five-and-a-half years of proceedings.

At that time, he initially gave the green light for German participation in an urgent decision, but created conditions for it. (Az. 2 BVR 1368/16 and others)

[Wenn Sie aktuelle Nachrichten aus Berlin, Deutschland und der Welt live auf Ihr Handy haben wollen, empfehlen wir Ihnen unsere App, die Sie hier für Apple- und Android-Geräte herunterladen können.] States including Germany. So Karlsruhe had no opportunity to examine this part of the agreement.

Second Senate judges express clear doubts about the planned court and committee system. But it is too early to decide. Should the Traffic Light Coalition ratify Ceta anyway, new lawsuits in Karlsruhe would be needed.

Critics point to lack of environmental and consumer protection

Mass protests against the EU’s trade deal with Canada have largely subsided. Critics of the agreement met widespread resistance in 2016: more than 125,000 supporters joined the “civilians’ lawsuit” by the “No to Seta” action coalition of the Democratic organizations Foodwatch, Campact and Mehr.

At the same time, a retired music teacher from North Rhine-Westphalia and her husband collected about 68,000 power of attorneys. The plaintiffs fear that Sita will curtail their political participation rights. Environment and consumer protection will be subject to free trade. The leftist faction of the Bundestag also complained at that time.

Low Trade Barriers Ceta . speaks for

Proponents emphasize above all the comprehensive elimination of tariffs and trade barriers. In a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in June 2021, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck a positive balance: in 2019, trade in goods grew by 25 percent and services by 39 percent.

The exciting question now must be how the new federal government will react to the Karlsruhe decision. In their election schedule, the Greens had decided not to ratify SITA in its current version due to lack of climate, environment and consumer protection.

The coalition agreement with the SPD and the FDP agreed: “We will make a decision on ratification of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) after the examination is completed by the Federal Constitutional Court.” (dpa)