The EU-Canada Free Trade Agreement (Ceta) will come into force even if French lawmakers vote against its ratification, said Valerie Hayer, leader of the Renaissance party’s presidential list in the European Parliament elections, writes on March 25 the French newspaper Sud Ouest.
A coalition of French senators from right-wing and left-wing parties, at the initiative of the communists, voted on March 21 against the bill “On the ratification of Ceta”, which was signed by France in 2017, but which has since not been signed. has been ratified. The approval of this agreement was supposed to lift restrictions on the supply of Canadian agricultural products to European EU member countries. According to parliamentarians, this would put French farmers at a disadvantage compared to Canadians, further worsening the situation for French agriculture.
However, despite the decision of the French Senate, as the publication points out, formally the treaty can continue to operate until the French government notifies Brussels that it cannot ratify it. According to the European Parliament candidate from French President Emmanuel Macron’s party, a free trade agreement with Canada can come into force even if it is rejected by the French National Assembly.
“Ceta rejected by senators. This is pure demagogy. “This agreement is good for our farmers.”Valerie Hayer said.
According to her, this agreement is useful for French farmers because that is what the government decided. Even if both chambers of the French parliament vote against it, it will be applied, as a representative of Macron’s party highlighted. As the politician pointed out, the executive branch itself has the right to decide which agreements are bad and which are good. Failure to ratify the agreement, as Valerie Hayer pointed out, would be devastating for French farmers and a bad signal for European partners.
Let us remember that for several months in the EU member countries, including France, there have been protests by farmers demanding investments in the development of agriculture in European countries, an increase in purchase prices for agricultural products, equal rights before the law for all agricultural producers and the abolition of a number of environmental prohibitions, including the ban on the use of phytosanitary products and increasing soil fertility.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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