OTTAWA—The European Union is giving its 28 member countries a say on the final ratification of its mammoth free trade deal with Canada in order to quell rising anti-trade sentiments, says the continent’s top envoy to Ottawa.
Marie-Anne Coninsx, the European Union’s ambassador to Canada, says the European Commission’s decision on Tuesday, July 6, to proceed with a “mixed” agreement won’t derail the timeline that will see the vast majority of the deal come into force early next year.
She also said that all 28 EU countries approve the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
The mixed designation means each of the EU countries must ratify the deal, but the European Parliament’s approval—which Coninsx and others say will take place late this year or early next—will lead to “provisional application” of the pact.
Coninsx said there was a political need to deal with the rising tide of anti-globalization forces in Europe, by giving the bloc’s countries the right to ratify as part of the mixed designation.
“The main concern, or the objective of the European Commission, is to make progress with CETA in a maybe difficult environment,” she said in an interview.
“Given, I would say, the atmosphere in the European Union, not so much linked to the U.K. referendum but more a kind of a trend of anti-globalization, the European Commission has proposed a mixed agreement.”
