German lawmakers approved a free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada on Thursday, bringing the deal one step closer to full force.
The pact, formally known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, was signed in late 2016. Most of its terms have been provisionally implemented since 2017, but the parliaments of all 27 EU member countries must ratify the agreement. agreement to be effective. come fully into force.
Chancellor OIaf Scholz’s tripartite coalition made progress on its ratification after Germany’s highest court in March rejected the complaints against CETA, at least in the form in which it is currently in force.
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Lawmakers voted 559-110 to approve the pact.
Eleven other EU countries have yet to ratify the deal, Verena Hubertz, a lawmaker from Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats, told the lower house of parliament ahead of the vote.
German Chancellor Olaf Shulz’s tripartite coalition has ratified a free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada.
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“We are optimistic, now that we are making progress, others will follow very quickly as well,” he said. “But of course… this is too long and too slow in a fast-spinning globalized world.”
Hubertz said Germany had to wait for the court’s verdict, adding that “we have removed concerns” about the details of a dispute mechanism built into the pact. Conservative opposition lawmakers argued that little or nothing has changed and accused the center-left of delaying ratification for ideological reasons.
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The agreement eliminates almost all customs duties and increases quotas for certain key products in Canada and the respective EU markets. The EU has said the deal will save its companies some $623 million a year in tariffs.
