CETA, the Canada-EU trade deal under negotiation, is well ahead of the TTIP in terms of its progress towards a final text. How is it faring in terms of politics? The European Parliament was debating it yesterday. Here's what they report:
Hopes and fears for the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has been negotiated but still needs Parliament’s backing to enter into force, were aired in a debate with EU trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht on Tuesday.
EU trade negotiators’ achievements in securing access to the Canadian public procurement market and protecting 145 EU geographical indication marks were.warmly welcomed by MEPs. Many stressed the need to win access to new markets for EU firms so as to offset their loss of business with Russia.
The key fear voiced was to do with the investor-to-state dispute settlement clause, which could enable investors to sue governments over policies perceived as harmful to business. Some political groups called for it to be removed, arguing that it should not be needed in a deal between two mature judicial systems and could be abused by multinationals seeking to sue governments over legitimate policies, such as smoking bans or cutting down on nuclear energy.
So it's all about investor-state. I wonder what the polling would be like for CETA with investor-state, as compared to CETA without investor-state?
Commissioner de Gucht (who will be replaced soon) had this to say:
On investment, the agreement establishes a system that sets a new standard for investor-to-state dispute settlement procedures. We are well aware of the concerns that exist. This agreement directly addresses all the concerns that have emerged so far.
It is debatable whether concerns have actually been addressed, but more relevantly, the question is whether Parliament is satisfied with the way the issue has been dealth with. As the first link notes, "The European Parliament will be asked for its consent to the deal in mid-2015," so we will find out then. You can watch the whole parliamentary debate at the link. I didn't watch, but my sense from twitter is that there was lots of opposition expressed.
What would the debate over CETA look like if TTIP were not on the agenda? Is ISDS only such a big deal for CETA because of what it would mean to have ISDS in TTIP? We'll never know, but CETA/TTIP definitely seems like a big test for the future of ISDS.