Bundestag gives green light to Ceta agreement

The Bundestag has decided to ratify the free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada, Ceta. 559 deputies voted for the bill, while 110 elected officials voted against. There were no abstentions. The traffic light groups and the Union faction had spoken out in advance for the left and the AfD against Ceta.

During the debate in the Bundestag, leading politicians from the traffic light coalition defended this agreement. Green Party leader Katharina Dröge said the government coalition had opened a “new chapter in trade policy”; This now focuses on climate protection and sustainability. On the other hand, the union accused the federal government of “delaying tactics”. In the Bundestag, a law will be passed “with wording identical to ours, which we presented in March”, criticized CDU politician Julia Klöckner.

Ceta has been in force provisionally since September 2017, but only in areas for which the EU is solely responsible and not its Member States. The other parts are awaiting ratification. Within the EU, approval is still lacking in several states, including Germany, until today’s ratification.

The ratification of Ceta, which was mainly driven by the FDP, is part of an agreement reached by factions of the traffic light coalition on a realignment of trade policy. There was previously strong resistance to Ceta from the Greens. One of the criticisms of Ceta is that it unilaterally protects corporate interests at the expense of climate, environment and social issues. The federal government had campaigned at European level to improve the agreement to avoid climate-damaging applications in investment protection.