Ceta, a black folder for the return of the Macron government

Wednesday, August 21, the Macron government made its return. But while the president tries to turn a new page of the five-year period after the Yellow Vests crisis, a file continues to be controversial: that of Ceta. Adopted on July 23 by the National Assembly, the free trade agreement with Canada, which provides for the elimination of customs duties on 98% of the products traded between the two zones, sparked heated debate among parliamentarians, including some consider that it does not allow effective control of imported products and will generate unfair competition for French breeders. Farm unions and environmental groups continue to press the government to backtrack on this controversial deal.

Degradation of permanence

On August 14, Gilles Le Gendre, president of the group La République en marche in the National Assembly, spoke on Franceinfo to denounce the deterioration of permanences and threats against members of the majority. About thirty incidents of this type have been listed according to the elected LREM, who denounced an "extremely dangerous escalation".

Several LREM deputies, like Mireille Clapot and Carole Grandjean, in Valence and Nancy, were targeted in retaliation for their vote in favor of Ceta, as evidenced by the graffiti and posters left on their permanence. Asked by France 24, Jean-René Cazeneuve, LREM deputy from Gers, also claims to have been targeted: "My permanence was tarnished by farmers, they left me a message of insult. clear answer to my vote for Ceta. "

To the farmers who are against #CETA, I say to them: Chick, tomorrow we stop all trade with Canada! And we will see the result. The 2018 trade balance with Canada shows a surplus of +580 M € on agri-food products @ moreaujb23 @RolandLescure pic.twitter.com/hICIKl775W

The MP deplores the intimidation attempts that are multiplying. "There is a lot of misinformation around Ceta, which can lead to this kind of overflows that endanger democracy, but I do pedagogy, I explain to my farmers that the agreement will allow them to to export more and that Canada is an allied country with whom we can have reasoned and intelligent dialogue. "

Despite the efforts of elected LREM, the French remain mostly skeptical about the issue of Ceta. According to an Ifop survey, conducted in July for the newspaper Fakir, 66% of respondents reject the content of the agreement, which could lead to the importation into France of products such as meat fed with animal meal or genetically modified salmon .

A heated political debate

The vote of Ceta in the National Assembly caused a stir in the political class. While most opposition members strongly rejected the text, several members of the presidential majority also expressed their doubts and criticisms. During the vote, nine LREM MPs opposed the text, a record for the ruling party, which had until now used to vote texts in unison. Fifty or so elected representatives of the majority abstained.

Jean-René Cazeneuve regrets these divisions within the majority: "I consider that we have the right to express all possible criticisms upstream, the debate must be the most open, but once the position is determined, to vote against it is to weaken its majority. "

However, MEP LREM considers that the real responsibility for the malaise on the Ceta issue lies with the Socialist Party and the Republicans: "They have behaved in a lamentable way.They negotiated this treaty and are now fighting against us for political calculations, especially the right, which goes against his beliefs by rejecting the agreement. "

In a forum published in July, 25 deputies Republicans have explained their opposition to Ceta, claiming in particular that the treaty does not allow "any control or verification on the presence of growth hormones" in meat imported from Canada.

An unfavorable context

Negotiated on a European scale, Ceta has been very complicated to put in place. Seven years of discussions between the European Union and Canada were necessary to bring about this treaty. In the end, it is clear that the vote in the National Assembly took place in an unfavorable context, after the long crisis of yellow vests and in full ecological awareness.

Approved despite the warnings of former environment minister Nicolas Hulot and the speech of the young activist Greta Thunberg - who had come to question the Assembly on the climate emergency on the day of the vote - the vote caused a wave of criticism against the majority.

"Considering that global trade is a source of future today with climate change and the environmental constraints that are imposed on us, it is an aberration," said Denis Perreau, national secretary for livestock within the agricultural union Peasant confederation. "I work on the plateaux of Burgundy where I have a herd, we are facing a drought situation for the third year in a row, we have to stop with this kind of bad agreements for the environment and which threaten the small producers. "

For his part, Jean-René Cazeneuve considers it necessary to advance and convince: "Political courage is not to back down according to the economic situation, it is necessary to go ahead and withstand the pressures. will make all the decisions very complex, there are the issues of jobs threatened to take into account, we must find a fair balance. "

A margin of maneuver to cancel the agreement

Partially applied since September 21, 2017, the Ceta is far from being set in stone. Not only is the treaty still to be approved by the Senate in the autumn, but it will only be fully implemented after ratification by all European countries.

Meanwhile, the fight continues for anti-Ceta activists like Denis Perreau: "We believe that the text will not pass in the Senate because of the opposition of the Republicans and that it will return to the Assembly." Our strategy to the Confederation The peasant woman is going to meet the non-voters of the majority to convince them to vote against and thus block the text, we are hopeful. "

At European level, nothing is played. A dozen or so states, including Austria, Spain, Finland, Portugal and the United Kingdom, have already ratified the agreement, but it only takes one opposition to have the text, as it stands, present today, is rejected on a European scale.