OTTAWA — The European Union’s new ambassador to Canada says any potential free-trade deal between the two sides is contingent on a side agreement on security, human rights, and sustainable development that includes a “suspension clause” for which the Harper government continues to have concerns.
Canada, however, is rejecting the EU’s assessment of the situation, as the two sides continue to battle over an elusive free-trade agreement that the Harper government initially promised would be completed by the end of 2012.
New EU Ambassador Marie-Anne Coninsx said Tuesday the two sides must complete a wide-ranging “Strategic Partnership Agreement” (SPA) — a broad umbrella agreement for co-operating on a number of fronts — before the European Union will proceed with any free-trade agreement with Canada.
“Our position is that there is a linkage,” Coninsx said in a briefing Tuesday with reporters in Ottawa.
But a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Canada disagrees with the EU, insisting there is no need to conclude the strategic partnership agreement before completing the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
“We have been very clear, the Strategic Partnership Agreement is completely separate from the CETA. Negotiations on the SPA began almost two years after the launch of the CETA negotiations,” Rick Roth, director of communications for Baird, said Tuesday in an email.
“There is no legal impediment to concluding the CETA while SPA negotiations are ongoing.”
The Canada-EU free-trade negotiations have dragged on for more than four years, with both sides trying to resolve their differences on a few outstanding issues that are believed to include Canadian beef access into Europe and EU access into Canada’s supply managed dairy sector.
But before that deal can be completed, the EU says Canada and the European Union must also sign on a SPA that commits both sides to a number of general principles, including promoting peace and security, protecting human rights, and a commitment to economic and sustainable development.
The two main tenets of the European Union’s agreements with other countries include a commitment to promote human rights and fight against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, according to EU officials.
Like other deals, the proposed SPA with Canada would also include a “suspension clause” that explains what breaches — be it on human rights or another issue — would justify suspending any successful Canada-EU free-trade deal.
The EU ambassador says the two accords are linked, so the overdue trade deal can’t be completed until both sides agree to a strategic partnership agreement that Canada continues to raise concerns with over the language.
“If we would say, ‘OK, with all agreements in the world but not Canada,’ it would send out a wrong signal to other countries, and we have still other upcoming negotiations to do. Therefore, it’s important that especially Canada, a likeminded country, subscribe to this,” Coninsx said.
“And I’m sure they subscribe to it, but they have, for the moment, still some difficulties on the formulation of the suspension clause.”
Coninsx says there are few outstanding issues that must be resolved to reach the agreement, but Canadian officials still have concerns over language around human rights.
The ambassador stressed that a “very, very serious” breach of human rights, such as genocide, would have to occur to trigger the suspension clause.
“It could only be in case of a major breach of human rights violations, and I cannot imagine this in the case of Canada,” she added.
The Conservative government says it is proud of its record in “actively promoting and protecting human rights throughout the world,” and will work closely with the EU in promoting the rule of law in countries with systemic violations.
“We are committed to the objective of strengthening our cooperation on these issues, but as we are currently in negotiations to work out the details we cannot elaborate further,” said Roth from Baird’s office.
Canadian officials have raised concerns over the past couple of years with the dispute resolution section, according to federal officials who have worked on the SPA.
“Canada has proposed text that emphasizes the need for an evidence-based approach based on dialogue and expert advice to resolve any differences in a timely and constructive manner,” Alexandra Bugailiskis, Canada’s former chief negotiator on the SPA, told the House of Commons foreign affairs committee last year.
As for the free-trade deal itself, the ambassador said Tuesday negotiations have intensified over the past few weeks and that “very good progress” is being made on the CETA.
However, she would not comment on specific trade irritants such as potential Canadian beef quotas in Europe and the EU’s demands for greater access to Canada’s dairy sector.
“What will be the final outcome, I do not know,” she said of the free-trade negotiations.
She also addressed Europe’s proposed Fuel Quality Directive that would label Alberta’s oilsands a dirtier form of crude.
Coninsx expects European Union ministers will vote on the proposed fuel directive by the end of the year, after EU officials review an impact assessment report.
The Harper government says the proposed fuel law would “discriminate” against oilsands-derived fuels.
Canada worries that adopting the fuel law — which would slap a higher carbon footprint on bitumen and make it more expensive for European countries to import oilsands crude — would unfairly stigmatize the resource and set an unwelcome precedent.
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