CETA

I fully accept that Canada is a country which shares the EU’s democratic values and with which the EU should promote the best political and economic relations possible.
However CETA is an inadequate tool by which to achieve this objective, not least because it will serve as a template for future similar relations with other, stronger, more economically significant powers and regions.
We live at times when globalisation urgently needs to be managed in the interests of those who are least in the position to defend their situation and their future.
The CETA template will not help to do so.
It will furher enhance the process by which the global economy is being oligopolised.
In turn, this will further strengthen the power of the emerging global oligopolies.
So, I find it impossible to ignore as a socialist, the voices raised among trade unions and civil society representatives in Europe (as well as in Canada) who have claimed that CETA as an agreement is not a good one.
I would further argue that this also holds for CETA as a template for future trade and investment agreements by the EU.
I have therefore voted against its approval.