The final draft of the joint interpretative declaration between the EU and Canada on the proposed free trade deal CETA has been leaked today. The declaration had been promised to critical governments and parliaments to alleviate concerns about the agreement.
Friends of the Earth Europe warns that it completely fails to address the fundamental flaws of the agreement. CETA continues to contain one-sided, discriminatory investment chapter which can be used to undermine environmental regulations in a skewed corporate court system that comes nowhere close to standards of judicial independence.
Fabian Flues, trade campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said “This declaration is not worth the paper it is written on. It provides no protection for the public against attacks from corporations through CETA’s dangerous tribunal system. CETA continues to give unjustified privileges to investors, who will be able to use it to ride roughshod over our parliaments and courts.”
The leak follows an open letter by more than 120 civil society groups calling on Austrian chancellor Christian Kern to remain steadfast in his opposition to CETA.
Fabian Flues continued: “The governments and parliaments that have demanded substantial improvements to CETA have been taken for a ride. They need to reject the agreement, which has failed to live up to the red lines they have set. If anything, this declaration shows that it is impossible to improve the bad CETA deal.”
