Foodwatch on the EU-Canada Agreement, » CETA is not a harmless trade agreement «

Berlin, December 1, 2022

On the vote in the Bundestag on EU-Canada trade agreement CETA, Rhona Bindwald from consumer organization Foodwatch explains…

» CETA is not a harmless trade agreement that merely lowers tariffs and promotes trade. The trade agreement only creates parallel justice for corporations, relegates the Bundestag to the audience on important issues and weakens consumer protection and environmental protection in the EU. Additional declarations and other papers do not change that. We are actively investigating a new constitutional complaint against CETA.

Foodwatch exclusively looks at 3 threats from CETA

1. CETA creates parallel justice for corporations only

CETA establishes an Investment Court System (ICS) that allows transnational corporations to sue governments when new laws run contrary to their profit interests. This has a deterrent effect and can prevent regulations, for example to combat the #climate crisis.

2. CETA bypasses the Bundestag and the European Parliament

CETA establishes committees made up of officials from the European Union and Canada. These committees meet in secret and have far-reaching powers: they can produce internationally binding decisions on sensitive issues such as import rules for food containing pesticide residues or meat sanitary controls. Neither the European Parliament nor the public has detailed information on what is being negotiated. The decisions of the Committee are not governed by the European Parliament or the national parliaments of EU member states.

3. CETA weakens consumer protection and environmental protection

The so-called precautionary principle is in fact firmly established in EU treaties. According to this principle, authorities may ban a substance (such as a pesticide) as a precautionary measure if there are scientifically reasonable indications of harm to health or environmental damage. The burden of proving that a substance is safe lies with the manufacturer. CETA puts this important principle at risk, as the Canadian government is pressuring #Europe to move away from the Precautionary Principle and to equate Canada’s risk-based approach (the aftercare principle).

More on this in the Foodwatch report »CETA – #health, #environment, #consumer protection and an attack on democracy«, More,