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Robert Habeck and Qatar's Trade Minister Mohammed bin Hamad bin Kasim al-Abdullah Al Thani on March 20, 2022
Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa
While Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck recently bowed to the Emir of Qatar to improve Germany's trade relations, he remains tough on another country: Canada, no thanks!
It is about the Ceta trade agreement, which the European Union signed with Canada almost six years ago but has not fully implemented.
Habeck's Greens still want to prevent it, on the grounds that it endangers our environmental and social standards.
The traffic light coalition therefore sees itself unable to ratify the Ceta Treaty.
Do the Greens think Canada is a rogue state?
The Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge, an anti-Ceta activist from the very beginning, says: »Our attitude has not changed.«
Qatar hui, Canada ugh – I briefly wondered whether there might be a mix-up, after all both start with a K.
So here are the differences again: Qatar ranks 114th behind Burkina Faso in the global democracy index.
Canada ranks twelfth ahead of Germany.
Qatar has CO₂ emissions of 37 tons per capita and year.
Canada has 14 tons.
Qatar: Forced Labour, Sharia, Muslim Brotherhood.
Canada: Number one in the »Gay Travel Index«.
So much for environmental and social standards.
Canada has what Germany desperately needs right now to free itself from its self-inflicted dependence on Putin's Russia.
It has oil and gas, metals, timber and fertilizers, stable supply chains free of child labour, and a prime minister who describes himself as a feminist and swears by the 1.5 degree target.
So where does Habeck's problem lie?
The German protest movement against trade agreements such as Ceta and TTIP with the USA seems to have fallen out of time.
In 2015, more than 150,000 people took to the streets of Berlin to protest against US chickens that were disinfected with chlorine, which they said were harmful to their health.
Today it sounds like a joke about the neglect of prosperity, but it was meant seriously.
The fact that German right-wing populists, France's Marine Le Pen and America's future President Donald Trump were running alongside the free trade opponents in spirit could have made the mostly left-wing activists suspicious at the time.
Thanks to David Ricardo, every economist has known for 200 years that free trade benefits the participating states.
The opportunity that was wasted with TTIP was shown under Trump when he started a trade war against Germany's car manufacturers.
A few weeks ago, the Federal Constitutional Court finally dismissed all complaints from Ceta opponents.
There is now no pretense for the federal government to hide behind.
The Ceta agreement would remove tariffs and trade barriers between Canada and the EU, improving relations, lowering prices and helping keep us energized.
Habeck will not find a better time to ally himself with Canada.
