Paris (AFP)

The Canada-EU Free Trade Agreement (CETA), signed more than two years ago, will pass the test of the National Assembly on Wednesday for ratification. Here are five things to know about this controversial trade deal.

- What is Ceta? -

Negotiated for more than seven years, the CETA (CETA) was approved by the European Parliament in February 2017. It entered into force provisionally shortly thereafter. years.

To be definitively recognized, this document must be validated by the 38 national and regional assemblies of Europe, from where its examination with the Palais-Bourbon Wednesday then with the Senate on a not yet fixed date. Thirteen States, including Spain and the United Kingdom, have already ratified it.

Specifically, Ceta, which covers a total of 510 million Europeans and 35 million Canadians, removes tariffs on 98% of products traded between the two zones, extends certain services to competition and strengthens regulatory cooperation.

It also allows the recognition in Canada of 143 products of protected geographical origin (PDO), 42 of which are French (Roquefort, Saint-Nectaire, Prunes d'Agen ...). Canadian agriculture is gaining greater access to the European market.

- What impact? -

Ceta has already had a "very positive" effect in France with exports to Canada up "by 6.6% between 2017 and 2018," according to Secretary of State Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. In 2018, exports of dairy products, in particular, increased by 19%.

Canadian imports to France fell by 6% over the same period. This decline is attributed by Canada to the drop in purchases of rapeseed and iron ore for cyclical reasons. The French trade surplus with the North American country rose from 50 to 450 million euros between 2017 and 2018.

- What about the cattle industry? -

According to Canadian figures, the country has exported only 1,000 tons of beef, or just 2% of the quota granted by Ceta, this sector is not yet ready for European requirements and prohibition including meat with growth hormones.

"These are tiny quotas," said Lemoyne, who wants to reassure French farmers. "Canada is not equipped in terms of sectors to meet European standards," he said. Out of 70,000 farms, only 36 raise their livestock according to European standards.

- Telescoping with Mercosur -

The ratification of Ceta by France comes amidst controversy over the conclusion, at the end of June, of another trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay). This treaty is denounced by the farmers, who rallied last Tuesday throughout France to express their dissatisfaction, as well as the parliamentary opposition groups. The majority LREM-MoDem in the Assembly pleads to avoid an "amalgam" between the two agreements.

- Climate "Veto" -

MP and rapporteur Jacques Maire (LREM) unveiled before the press a document in which Canada is committed to the principle of a form of "climate veto". This provision must allow the EU and the North American country to benefit from a margin of maneuver when a private company will contest one of the environmental standards in the name of the application of the agreement.

But some denounce a watered down version of the veto, like the Nicolas Hulot Foundation for whom "it is not a real climate veto" in the direction desired by the former minister of ecological transition. "Nothing can stop the procedure" of challenging a company, according to Samuel Leré, representative of the FNH.

The veto also has "no legal existence," observed Jean-Paul Lecoq (PCF).

© 2019 AFP