Friday March 12th 2021
Agreement between the EU and Canada
Experts: CETA endangers consumer protection
The CETA trade agreement between the EU and Canada is not yet fully in force – but experts are already warning: The control of the rules is not transparent, there is a lack of democratic supervision by the parliaments. They see health and consumer protection in the EU at risk.
According to a legal opinion for the Foodwatch association, the European-Canadian trade agreement CETA has serious democratic deficits. This could have negative consequences for health and consumer protection in Europe, said the consumer protection organization. The report by Wolfgang Weiß, Professor of Public Law in Speyer, criticizes the lack of democratic control and transparency in the committees.
It is said that they have the power to change parts of CETA. "A new and very high level in the exercise of sovereign powers by executive organs" will be reached. The so-called mixed CETA committee is responsible, among other things, for the application of the agreement; there are also thematic special committees. The European Parliament cannot have a say in this, writes Weiß. Otherwise there are no mechanisms of parliamentary or public accountability.
Consumer advocates: Bundestag should stop CETA
Foodwatch managing director Thilo Bode criticized: "The secretly meeting CETA committees make decisions that affect millions of EU citizens – but the EU Parliament or the Bundestag are left out." He called on the Bundestag to stop the agreement.
CETA regulates the elimination of almost all tariffs between the EU and Canada and the removal of other trade barriers. In October 2016, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe provisionally allowed German participation under certain conditions. Among other things, the federal government had to ensure that Germany can leave again. Parts of the agreement provisionally entered into force in September 2017.
CETA can only come into full force once all EU states have ratified the agreement. Germany is waiting for the decisions from Karlsruhe – there are complaints about the agreement at the Federal Constitutional Court, including one from Foodwatch, which the consumer protection organization submitted together with the organizations Campact and Mehr Demokratie.
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