The European Commission has ruled that a controversial EU-Canada free trade deal – CETA – cannot be renegotiated, despite much opposition in Europe.

“CETA is done and we will not reopen it,” said EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom.

Ms Malmstrom was speaking as EU trade ministers met in Slovakia to discuss CETA and a similar deal with the US, TTIP, which has also faced criticism.

A draft CETA deal has been agreed, but parliaments could still delay it.

Thousands of activists protested against CETA and TTIP in Germany on and thousands more in Brussels – outside the EU’s headquarters.

Activists fear that the deals could water down European standards in the key areas of workers’ rights, public health and the environment.

Concern over new courts

There is also great anxiety about proposed special courts where investors will be able to sue governments if they feel that legislation hurts their business unfairly.

Critics say the mere existence of such courts – an alternative to national courts – will have a “chilling” effect on policymakers, leading to slacker regulation on the environment and welfare.

At a glance: CETA

• Negotiations began in 2009 and ended in August 2014;
• The deal aims to eliminate 98% of tariffs between Canada and EU, making it the EU’s most comprehensive trade deal to date;
• Signing is expected on 27 October, after which it requires ratification by the European Parliament and national parliaments;
• It includes: the new Investment Court System (ICS); harmonised regulations; sustainable development clauses; and access to public sector tenders;
• The deal is opposed by various groups, including environmental activists, trade unionists, and Austrian Socialists.

EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement

EU-Canada negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) were declared concluded in September 2014. Except for a few sensitive agricultural products, CETA would remove practically all tariffs on goods exchanged between the two partners, and create important new market opportunities in, among others, financial services, telecommunications, energy and maritime transport, while reserving the parties’ right to regulate their internal public affairs. Canada would substantially open up its public procurement, at both federal and sub-federal level, thereby eliminating a major asymmetry in access to each other’s public procurement markets.

The consolidated CETA text is currently undergoing legal-linguistic review. Once this ‘legal scrubbing’ and the translation into all official EU languages are completed, the Commission can submit it to the Council and the European Parliament for approval. It is still to be decided whether the agreement in its entirety falls under exclusive competence of the European Union or would also touch upon Member States’ competences. In the latter case, ratification by the Member States would also be necessary for the agreement to come into force. CETA brings forward a number of innovations to reform and reshape investment protection provisions in general and the investor-state-dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism in particular. Nevertheless, persistent opposition to investment protection, and ISDS in particular, has given rise to proposals to incorporate (elements of) the new investment court system (ICS) into CETA.

The Commission is reportedly not pressing for including its entire ICS proposal into CETA; however, it intends to ‘fine-tune’ the agreement within the process of legal scrubbing. Working towards including (elements of) the ICS system into CETA could then be envisaged via the use of review clauses.