The French Senate rejects CETA. Strong risk of decay of the entire treaty
Today the French Senate voted against ratifying the CETA free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada, thanks to an alliance between the left and the right. In an extremely tense atmosphere, senators rejected by 211 votes to 44 the section of the bill relating to this treaty, which has been provisionally applied since 2017 but never presented to the Upper House. They confirmed this refusal a few minutes later, in a final vote.
European Relations Union – Canada : the Sénat authorizes the ratification of a strategic partnership agreement more recently under the AECG/CETA #DirectSénat #CETA
243 see for the ratification project to be modified
26 voix contre
The results of the ballots:… pic.twitter.com/gvQILI6wKe
— Sénat (@Senat) March 21, 2024
The refusal was described as “good news” by the President of the Fédération Nationale Bovine (FNB). “Patrick Bénézit, second vice-president of the majority farmers union FNSEA, exulted, saying that the senators had “finally had the opportunity to make the right choice, that of not ratifying a treaty that authorizes foods that do not respect our production conditions ”. It was above all the farmers who pushed for the rejection of this free trade agreement which saw cereal and meat production threatened by overseas imports
His opinion is not unanimously shared. Nicolas Ozanam, General Delegate of the French Federation of Wine and Spirits Exporters (FEVS), explained: “In a moment of economic difficulty (for exports in the sector), putting ourselves in a delicate position after a good dynamic (since the treaty has been implemented) seems totally surreal to us." Obviously, opposition to the pact is not the same in all sectors of the French economy.
A complex story of a little-loved and never fully approved treaty
Signed at the end of 2016, adopted by the European Parliament at the end of 2017 and provisionally applied since then, CETA has not yet been ratified by all EU national parliaments. The National Assembly, for its part, had narrowly approved it on July 23, 2019 with 266 votes against 213, causing a record abstention rate in Macronist's ranks at the time. The Italian government approved CETA in 2017 and the parliament in 2023.
In France the treaty had never been presented to the Upper House, despite numerous promises from the government. The Senate's rejection is not in itself sufficient to denounce the agreement at European level, but the problems for the government are far from over. Now he will have to return to the Assembly for a vote that is far from certain in the outcome.
In the wake of the Senate vote, communist deputies announced on Thursday their intention to put the treaty on the agenda of the National Assembly on May 30, during their day in the Chamber. The Senate vote “cannot remain a dead letter,” they declared in a press release, indicating that their group wishes to include the text in its “parliamentary niche.”
“The confirmation by the National Assembly of the rejection of CETA will put an end to its application.”
If a national parliament, such as the French one, were to reject the agreement, it would cease to have effect throughout the entire territory of the Union. A terrible setback for the Commission and for Gentiloni, who had advocated for its approval.
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The article The French Senate rejects CETA. Strong risk of decay of the entire treaty comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-senato-francese-respinge-il-ceta-forte-rischio-di-decadenza-di-tutto-il-trattato/ on Thu, 21 Mar 2024 20:09:51 +0000.