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Over 120 European, Canadian and International Civil Society organizations commend Chancellor Kern's concern on Canadian Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and ask for his vote against the ratification of the agreement.
October 6, 2016
Your Excellency, Chancellor Kern
We, the undersigned, wish to commend you on the concern you have expressed at the potential negative impacts of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada, and we call on you to vote against the ratification of the agreement when it comes before the General Affairs Council of the European Union this month.
You are aware of the huge concern that exists across Europe as to the unprecedented new powers that will be granted to North American businesses as a result of trade deals such as CETA and the parallel Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and USA:
Recent initiatives undertaken to ease the passage of CETA through the ratification process have done nothing to address the fundamental concerns as to the agreement’s negative aspects.
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström has confirmed that the binding declaration proposed to ‘clarify’ certain issues in CETA will do nothing to alter the text of the agreement. That declaration will be unable, therefore, to address our concerns as to the substance of CETA.
The introduction of the proposed Investment Court System means that CETA will still grant North American investors the right to sue democratically elected European governments in their own privileged judicial system.
The proposal presented to the EU’s Trade Policy Committee on 16 September for provisional application of CETA means that substantial parts of this highly controversial agreement will still be brought into force before the democratic process of national ratification has run its course.
We commend your repeated statements of concern as to the potential negative impacts of CETA, and we call on you to defend the rights and interests of the people of Europe from the threats posed by CETA by voting against the ratification of the agreement.
Yours sincerely,
European and International Networks