Harper presses EU leaders to enact trade deal with Canada at G7 meeting

theglobeandmail.com
June 7, 2015
By Steven Chase

Stephen Harper used his last appearance on the international stage before a looming fall election to urge European Union leaders to ratify and enact a landmark trade deal between the 28-member trading bloc and Canada - a crucial political achievement for him as he seeks a fourth term in office.

At the Group of Seven summit of wealthy nations in Bavaria, Germany, Mr. Harper repeatedly called on EU counterparts to speed passage of the deal which the Conservative leader is expected to repeatedly cite during the election campaign as proof he’s performed well as steward of the Canadian economy.

The Prime Minister’s Office said Mr. Harper raised the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in at least four meetings Sunday, including tete-a-tetes with U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and top European Union officials as well as the G7 group session on the global economy. He asked them to “swiftly implement” the deal, the PMO said.

Mr. Harper will face significant criticism from rivals during the campaign about his preference for tax cuts over government investment to stimulate the economy and he needs the CETA deal to demonstrate he has a vision for creating jobs and growth.

The Canada-EU deal has come under criticism from opponents in the European Union. It must still be ratified by all EU member states. Efforts by the United States to reach a similar agreement have gotten bogged down amid a public backlash over how much power American investors would have to challenge EU policies and whether the trading bloc’s member states could block genetically modified imports.

Canada and the EU signed the trade agreement in September, 2014, and at the time, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said all European Union member states would ratify it in 2015 and it would come into force in 2016. But as of Sunday, the legal text of the agreement is still being prepared according to the PMO.

The resurgent crisis in Ukraine dominated the G7 summit on Sunday as key players talked up the need to maintain sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin despite the economic pain that some countries are feeling from a decline in trade with Moscow.

Heavy fighting resumed in eastern Ukraine last week between Kiev’s government forces and Russian-backed separatists, a development international monitors suggest was started by the rebels. The renewed conflict threatens to sink the February Minsk ceasefire deal even as it fuels a worsening humanitarian disaster on the ground.

Mr. Putin is absent from this year’s G7 gathering, hosted by Germany at a luxury hotel in the Bavarian Alps, because Russia was kicked out of the group in 2014 over its invasion and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

The Russian leader nonetheless overshadowed the first day of the meeting, especially because the resurgence of heavy artillery shelling in eastern Ukraine indicates Moscow is as committed as ever to destabilizing its southern neighbour.

U.S. President Barack Obama set the tone upon his arrival Sunday, saying G7 leaders would discuss “standing up to Russian aggression.” The White House issued a statement shortly after saying sanctions on Russia should stay in place as long as Moscow refuses to stand down in Ukraine.

“The duration of sanctions should be clearly linked to Russia’s full implementation of the Minsk agreements and respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty,” the White House said.

Some countries including Hungary and Greece have chafed at the sanctions, and G7 leaders are acutely aware that 15 months of censure and isolation have failed to convince Mr. Putin to alter course.

The agenda of this summit, which takes place at Schloss Elmau, is packed with items ranging from the fight against Islamic State militants to the potential for Greece to exit the European Union.

On Saturday, thousands of anti-G7 protesters marched in the nearby town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. There were sporadic clashes with police and several marchers were taken to hospital with injuries, but the violence was minor compared to some previous summits.

Ms. Merkel, the German Chancellor and the host of the meeting, has been trying to make fighting climate change a key focus of the summit - to build momentum for a UN conference to be held in France near the end of the year.

Like Mr. Harper, Mr. Obama is trying to fix in place his legacy and the U.S. leader is pushing for an ambitious new climate-change deal in 2015.

Mr. Putin, for his part, is trying to play down charges that Russia is a geopolitical risk to Europe. He told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that Russia is not a threat and had “other things to worry about,” adding that “only an insane person, and only in a dream, can imagine that Russia would suddenly attack NATO.”

In eastern Ukraine, meanwhile, a lot of heavy weaponry is now back near the front line. These arms were supposed to be withdrawn under the terms of the February ceasefire deal, and the Ukraine government is bracing itself for a full-scale offensive.

Mr. Cameron, the newly re-elected British Prime Minister, has been working with Germany and the U.S. on a proposal to offer support to any EU member state that is wavering over the need to renew sanctions.

Mr. Cameron told reporters the sanctions have “have an impact on all countries” including Britain’s financial sector. “[But] Britain hasn’t let our pre-eminence in financial services get in the way of taking a robust response to Russian-backed aggression and I don’t think other countries should either.”

Michael Bociurkiw, with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is monitoring the conflict, said more than 80 explosions were counted Saturday and about 100 Friday. He said around 500 explosions were heard around midnight Thursday.

He said the human cost of the Ukraine war is rising.

So many people in eastern Ukraine have been forced to flee their homes because of the fighting that Ukraine now ranks among the top 10 countries when it comes to numbers of displaced people.

“Right now we’re on the cusp of a worsening humanitarian situation,” he said.