Italy may not ratify CETA deal
The EU-Canada treaty of free trade is under fire in Italy, where Marco Centinaio, the agriculture minister, is threatening not to ratify the agreement.
The future of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union and Canada is in doubt after Centinaio declared that his government would ask his country's parliament not to ratify the treaty. "We will not ratify the free-trade treaty with Canada because it protects only a small part of our PDO [Protected Designation of Origin] and PGI [Protected Geographical Indication] products", explained Marco Centinaio, according to Seafood Source.
The officials in Rome are worried that CETA is recognizing only 40 Italian PDO and PGI labels out of a total of 292. The Minister mentioned Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Prosciutto di Parma ham as part of the products that are not protected by the treaty.
On the other hand, Canada is already benefiting from the early stage of CETA implementation.
Seafood sector has already seen a drop of 8% tariff on live lobster and 20% for lobster meat and tails entering the E.U. from Canada. "CETA is a work in progress, but still active and in place despite some skittish Italian conservatives, Our members have been actively diversifying their sales efforts to Asia and Europe, with CETA helping support the European market expansion. The CETA discount has worked like a charm. The latest export data for various lobster products show good growth in some countries year after year. Seafood exports to the Netherlands are up 82% from last year. Italy is up 11%", mentioned Stewart Lamont, the managing director of the Tangier Lobster Company on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore.
In the first four months of 2018 lobster exports to Canada’s top 10 markets are 6.7% ahead of 2017, or CAD 313.9 million (USD 236 million, EUR 201.8 million), versus CAD 294.8 million (USD 221.7 million, EUR 189.5 million) in 2016.
By now, 12 countries from the European block have ratified the agreement: Latvia, Malta, Denmark, Croatia, Czech Republic, Portugal, Estonia, Spain, Lithuania, Sweden, Finland, and Austria.
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