The French Senate opposed the ratification of the Ceta free trade treaty, between the European Union and Canada, on Thursday March 21, with a first vote in the hemicycle thanks to a convenient left-right alliance. Other European countries also seem to oppose this text, particularly in a context of agricultural discontent across the continent.
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The treaty has been applied provisionally since 2017, but never submitted to the upper house. In an extremely tense climate, senators rejected by 211 votes to 44 the article of the bill relating to this treaty. They confirmed this rejection a few minutes later with a final vote.
Signed in 2016, adopted in 2017 at European level, Ceta was narrowly validated to the National Assembly in 2019. But the government never referred the matter to the Senate, a necessary step in the process.
“ Denial of democracy »
“ Since 2019, the government has continued its denial of democracy by refusing to list it here », indignant the communist Fabien Gay. Environmentalists, socialists and a large part of the senatorial right, the first group in the Senate, are in fact opposed to this treaty. “ There was once again contempt for the Senate and Parliament and we have not forgotten that », Points out the leader of the Republicans, Bruno Retailleau.
Ceta, which notably removes customs duties on 98% of products traded between the European Union and Canada, is heavily criticized, particularly by French breeders who import meat at cost prices much lower than theirs and with less strict methods than those to which they are subject.
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