STRASBOURG, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The European Parliament, meeting Wednesday for its plenary, gave a green light to the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), following a tense debate on the deal.
Approved by 408 votes in favor to 254 against, with 33 abstentions, the extensive trade deal would unlock commerce between the European Union (EU) and Canada by removing tariffs on most goods and services, while also opening up Canada's public procurement market.
"By adopting CETA, we chose openness and growth and high standards over protectionism and stagnation," declared the European Parliament's CETA rapporteur Artis Pabriks, who's also a member of the EP for Latvia, after Wednesday's vote.
"Canada is a country with whom we share common values and an ally we can rely on. Together we can build bridges, instead of a wall, for the prosperity of our citizens. CETA will be a lighthouse for future trade deals all over the world," said Pabriks.
"CETA is a modern, new kind of agreement, promoting our values of free, fair and sustainable trade," said Cecilia Malmstrom, member of the European Commission in charge of trade, during the debate, "Canada and the EU pledge to effectively implement major international agreements on labor and environment. These provisions are ambitious, but they are also binding and legally enforceable."
Manfred Weber (Germany), speaking on behalf of the European People's Party group (EPP), said: "We as Europeans, on this day, we want to make clear in this vote that we don't want to build walls. We want to build bridges, we want partnership."
"Opponents of international trade will often highlight the losses, but they fail to point to the often larger gains, which are dispersed across a nation or dispersed across international borders," lamented Syed Kamall (Britain), on behalf of the European Conservatives and Reformers group.
However, Anne-Marie Mineur (Netherlands) for the United European Left/Nordic Green Left group voiced worries about the deal, saying "We have reservations about the agreement because there are problems with all the rules. We're putting ourselves in the hands of multinationals, we are putting our democracy at stake."
Yannick Jadot (France), speaking for the Greens/European Free Alliance group, noted the shortcomings he believed in the deal, saying "We want cooperation with the Canadians, the [North] Americans, and all the others. But on the climate, on social rights, on the fight against tax havens, on bank supervision, and of all that, there's nothing in this agreement."
Outside the parliament, a protest marched through Strasbourg, organized by citizens' groups and joined by members of political parties in opposition to CETA.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to address the Strasbourg hemicycle on Thursday, and is expected to highlight Canada's role as a leader of global trade and investment in support of the trade agreement.
In 2015, 28.3 billion euros (29.9 billion U.S. dollars) worth of Canadian goods were imported into Europe, while the EU exported goods worth 35.2 billion euros, all of which is expected to increase by more than 20 percent when the deal is fully implemented, according to the EU.
CETA negotiations were first launched in May 2009 and concluded in September 2014.
Before the deal can be fully implemented, it will have to be ratified by national parliaments, which can take up to several years.
CETA will be applied provisionally by the EU Council, however, with most of its measures applied during the ratification process. Provisional application could be implemented as early as April 1, 2017.
