CETA can be saved through mutual trust

The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) took seven years of negotiations. But the proposed deal is on the verge of collapse in its final lap.
As the Belgian region of Wallonia has refused to give it a go-ahead, the European Union (EU) leaders remain on tenterhooks. Canada’s patience is also running thin. On Friday, an emotionally-charged Canadian trade minister Chrystia Freeland slammed the EU, saying the bloc was incapable of signing international agreements. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has sounded a stern warning that the EU may never be able to make any other deals it if fails with Canada. European parliament head Martin Schulz met Freeland on Saturday in a last-ditch effort to bring about a win-win situation for both the parties. He also held key talks with Paul Magnette, Wallonia’s socialist government head. The next four days will decide the fate of CETA.
Proponents of CETA say that it would link the EU market of 500 million people with an economically robust Canada. They claim that it could boost trade in goods and services between Europe and Canada by over 20 percent and the total EU GDP by €12billion annually. On the contrary, its critics dub the deal as anti-people and anti-consumer. They feel it is titled towards businessmen, while giving sweeping powers to multinational companies (MNCs). Greenpeace has hit out against the pact as it believes it satisfies “corporate greed” and compromises people’s health safety and environmental standards. Many feel that giving a nod to CETA will set a dangerous precedent for the more ambitious EU-US Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP).
To salvage CETA, it is imperative that both sides bridge the widening chasm. Both will have to show solidarity with each other to save the deal which has taken years of hard work. Canada has to keep all options open to bring about reconciliation. It has to put forward a flexible stance to alter legal clauses which are creating trade irritants. It is a good sign that Romania and Bulgaria have said ‘Yes’ to CETA after Canada allowed visa-free travel for their citizens from December 1, 2017. Canada has also apparently given some sops to Germany.
As CETA needs approval of all 28 EU members, to see it pass through the hurdles would need close integration between the countries in the bloc. Amid the growing discord in the EU, some leaders have remarked that the group faces credibility threat and CETA controversy has the potential to snowball into a bigger crisis for the club. If it doesn’t put up a joint face, the EU would send an unfortunate message to the world that the group has turned into a farce and there is no unity left in it.
If CETA is blocked, it will give protectionism and anti-globalization votaries reason to vouch more strongly for their anti-free trade rhetoric. This will kill economic openness which has been driving trade in most European countries. If countries start isolating themselves, it would cause economic stagnation which will spell disaster for the already sluggish world economy. Trade integration is what we need most today, not isolationism. Having said that, it is important that every trade agreement stands its ground on transparency and mutual trust. Trade regulations have to follow ethics that help the society and the environment. There is still some hope to revive CETA. Such a revival would require reciprocation of faith from both EU and Canada.