Juncker expressed hope that during an EU-Canada summit in October a final agreement on the CETA will be reached. Nevertheless, only national parliaments can make the final decision on the deal.
To a certain extent, the CETA is an analogue to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal between Brussels and Washington. Once positioned as one the most ambitious projects by Barack Obama’s administration, the TTIP has recently been losing support across the EU.
The deal has been widely criticized by politicians and business elites. Critics point out that the agreement would serve the interests of transnational corporations and would have a ruining effect on the European economy.
By attempting to sign the CETA deal, the European Union is "making a maneuver," said Igor Kovalev from the Moscow-based Higher School of Economics University.
"The failures of the long secretive talks on the TTIP have prompted this maneuver. The EU is trying to get access to the North American market, not through the US, but via Canada. But I think this move involves significant costs for Europe. We don’t know who will win this complicated game," Kovalev told Radio Sputnik.
"The US and Canada have their own trade bloc, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The US is the leader of this alliance and has a wide range of tools to influence processes via Canada. The Canadian market and Canada’s financial capabilities are smaller than in the US. Washington can pursue its own goals via Canada," Kovalev pointed out.
He added that there is a certain reason why the EU chose Poland as a negotiator with Canada.
"Probably, European officials believe that Warsaw is the most suitable negotiator. There is a large Polish diaspora in Canada. For Poland, this is rather a political issue. The fact that Poland is presenting the EU’s interests in such important negotiations should enhance its positions amid the crisis in the bloc," he said.
Those criticizing the deal are concerned that the CETA deal includes some of the provisions from the TTIP deal with the US, an article in the Russian online newspaper Vzglyad read.
For example, in addition to lifting customs barriers, the deal presumes the same measures to protect private companies as the TTIP. Priority of corporate interests over local legal norms will deliver a heavy blow to the European social-oriented economy.
In particular, leader of the German socialists, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said that attempts to approve the CETA without discussions in national parliaments would be absurd. French far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon accused Juncker of trying to impose the deal "by force."
