The draft ratification of Ceta, a free trade treaty between the EU and Canada applied provisionally since 2017, will not be transmitted to the National Assembly before the European elections, Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade Franck Riester announced on Tuesday.
On March 21, thanks to a convenient left-right alliance, the Senate opposed the ratification of the treaty, an embarrassing disappointment for the executive on the road to the European elections.
In the process, the communist deputies had announced their intention to include the text in their reserved parliamentary time – their “niche” scheduled for May 30 in the Assembly –, ten days before the European elections, but the government seemed to want to procrastinate to place the text on the Assembly table.
“This subject requires time for peaceful debate”
Tuesday, in an interview with Le Figaro, Franck Riester announced that “the bill will be transmitted when the time comes, but not before the European elections, because this subject requires time for peaceful debate”.
“We do not want, as we saw in the Senate, for certain opposition groups to exploit this legitimate debate for electoral purposes,” summarizes the minister.
According to him, “the unnatural alliance in the Senate between the communist group and some of the LR senators is not only a political shenanigan, but also a bad blow inflicted on our businesses, our farmers and wine growers, our cheese producers, and to all those who work in French companies exporting to Canada.”
Asked by the daily about the fear of "being in return accused of electoral calculation", Franck Riester replied in the negative and believes that "everyone will be able to continue to express themselves during the campaign on commercial exchanges".
A dilemma for the government
The Ceta agreement, which removes most of the customs duties between the EU and Canada, “is good for France.
When they are unfavorable, like the one with Mercosur, we oppose them,” he adds.
In the event of rejection by the National Assembly, the equation would then become very complex for the government: either it notifies Brussels that it cannot ratify the treaty and this would result in the end of its provisional application for all of Europe;
or he procrastinates at the risk of attracting the wrath of oppositions who will cry out for democratic denial.