madam president as others have mentioned canada is indeed a solid trading partner for the eu
the abolition of the tariffs now being negotiated in the ceta framework is on the whole acceptable to our group
but sadly ceta does come up with some other demands and political goals which we find deeply worrying
i will mention two of the most troublesome the first being the negative list in the negotiations on trade liberalisation
normally in negotiating ftas you name the services that you are ready to liberalise
but under these proposals all services are open except those specifically excluded at the outset
as greens we think there are some services particularly those dealing with the general public interest which are too sensitive and too potentially vulnerable to be negotiated under this negative list approach
we have lodged some amendments and we are looking forward to some support from fellow members
the other area of concern is around procurement
we are concerned about the impact that ceta will have on procurement
to give just one example the ontario green energy act would be illegal under ceta
that act promotes the production and feeding of renewable energies and directs investments into local economies
that is just one example of how ceta will interfere with domestic policy in canada
although canada is one of our oldest trading partners we cannot deny that occasionally we do have differences of opinion
canada is for instance opposed to the eu's gmo policies
it is starting wto action against the eu import ban on seals in addition to its barbaric annual seal cull and do not forget that it is fighting the eu fuel quality directive to protect its exports of tar sands to the eu
i believe that it is important that we voice all these concerns and urge the commission to remain firm in the principles and policies of this place
