After the state elections, the coalition negotiations begin. In addition to many important points, trade policy will also be discussed, since the future state government in the Federal Council will, for example, decide on the EU-Canada trade agreement CETA (“Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement”), which is pending ratification.
We call on the parties to include a rejection of CETA in the coalition paper. There are many reasons against CETA – which is why tens of thousands demonstrated against CETA in Stuttgart in September 2016.
Weigh particularly heavy:
- CETA prevents effective climate protection. It ignores the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 and intensifies trade in the particularly emission-intensive Canadian tar sand oil.
- Due to the investment protection provided for in CETA, fossil energy companies can sue for high damages states that take measures to protect the climate.
- The special right of action for international corporations contained in CETA (which the German Association of Judges, among others, is strongly opposed to) also apply to other areas – e.g. in the employment sector, where improvements can be prevented. If, for example, municipalities, states or the federal government should issue staff assessment guidelines for care, international care groups can sue for compensation for “lost profits”.
- CETA obliges public service sectors to open the market, leads to a further commercialization of public services and stipulates that privatizations once carried out (e.g. in the health care system) are permanent. Privatized facilities can no longer be taken over by the public sector.
- CETA is a “living” agreement. That means: The rules of the agreement are changed again and again through what is known as regulatory cooperation. A number of Canadian-European committees are responsible for this, which primarily take economic interests into account. Their decisions do not require parliamentary approval; there is no democratic control.
Signatory Organizations
Attac Germany (Roland Süß), Attac Stuttgart (Marc Lawrence), Attac Austria (Iris Frey), Foodwatch Germany (Mirjam Hägele), Fridays For Future Stuttgart (Moritz Riedacher), local initiatives and alliances in Germany critical of free trade (Margot Rieger), workshop Nonviolent Action (Sara Fromm), BUND BaWü (Dr. Brigitte Dahlbender), DEAB – Umbrella Association for Development Policy BaWü eV (Uwe Kleinert), DGB BaWü (Martin Kunzmann), KAB BaWü (Svenja Greeting), Mehr Demokratie eV (Sarah Handel), Friends of Nature Württemberg (Alexander Habermeier), Network Gerechter Welthandel BaWü (Monika Gerigk, Ludwig Essig), Environmental Institute Munich (Karl Bär), ver.di BaWü (Ma rtin Gro ss), WeMove.EU (Annemarie Botzki), WOEK – Werkstatt Ökonomie eV ( Dr. Boniface Mabanza)
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