Opposition from farmers, environmentalists and politicians hinder implementation of Canada-European Union trade deal
Ongoing protests by European farmers unhappy with reduced profits and unfair competition from non-European Union countries could pose problems for Canadian agricultural exports.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 brought an energy crisis in Europe with associated spillover to agriculture, as many EU farmers faced a sharp rise in input costs and reduced demand for their products.
Both the European Commission and national governments have been unable to quickly compensate for these losses, resulting in farmers’ discontent and demands to limit foreign competitors’ access to the market.
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One of these is Canada. EU official estimates put the country’s annual agricultural exports to the EU at $5 billion. Agriculture Canada data show that, in 2020, Canada exported $4.6 billion in agri-food, fish and seafood products to the EU.
Signing of the 2016 Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) eliminated tariffs on more than 94 percent of food and agricultural products, ostensibly giving Canadian exporters a significant competitive advantage in the EU market.
As the situation in the EU agricultural sector remains tough, provision of such advantages to North American suppliers continues to spark protests and concerns from farmers across Europe.
For example, on Feb. 22, hundreds of Spanish farmers drove their tractors into central Madrid, calling on local authorities to stop implementation of policies that hurt their interests, specifically CETA, “which has been launched without ever having been ratified by all member states, must be terminated.”
“Our demands focus on addressing the existing inconsistencies between the legislation of the European Union and international agreements,” according to an official statement from the Spanish Young Farmers Agrarian Association.
Spanish farmers also voiced concerns about exports from Morocco. They believe agricultural products that come from outside the EU do not meet the same requirements as local ones.
CETA has been only partially in force since 2017 because not all European member states have ratified it.
Opposition to CETA in the EU has been voiced since the day it came into force, when Paul Magnette, then-minister president of Wallonia, Belgium, wrote a pamphlet entitled “CETA, when Europe goes off the rails.”
Opposition has always been widespread in Europe, particularly among French meat farmers, who say their country would be flooded with “hormone-doped meat from Canada.”
That position has been expressed by the French National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA) and Peasant Confederation and Rural Coordination.
“How could the French family model, with an average of 60 cattle per farm, struggle in the face of large-scale Canadian feedlots?” said Christiane Lambert, president of FNSEA.
The organization also says “Canada authorizes the cultivation of GMOs, rations based on animal meal and growth-promoting antibiotics as well as the routine use of 46 phytosanitary substances banned in Europe” and that “neither CETA, nor European regulations, nor the rules of the World Trade Organization allow the EU to prevent imports of products that do not meet our standards.”
The situation is similar in Italy, where representatives of local food consortiums and associations repeatedly said CETA creates serious risks for farmers throughout the country.
Angelo Amato, president of the Consortium for the Protection of Limone Costa d’Amalfi PGI, said CETA “puts a serious risk of opening the doors of the European and Italian markets to GMOs, meats with hormones and wheat crops with glyphosate.”
Among the opponents are various environmental organizations, many of them in the Netherlands, which is one of the largest EU agricultural exporters. That is where the all-European protests of farmers began, although the Netherlands is one of the few EU states to ratify CETA.
Milieudefensie (Dutch for “environmental defence”) is a Dutch environmental organization opposing CETA. It has stated that to compete with Canadian agriculture, Dutch farmers must build larger farms with more animals, which it says releases more greenhouse gases.
“In addition, the rules regarding pesticides in Canada are a lot less strict than in the EU,” said Donald Pols, director of Milieudefensie.
“For example, according to the Center for International Environmental Law, at least 40 various pesticides are permitted in Canada that are banned in the EU. Glyphosate, for example, is a pesticide with deadly consequences for bees.”
The organization also criticizes Canada regarding animal welfare, saying there is no legislation in Canada that protects livestock, only a code of conduct that farmers can voluntarily adhere to.
Another point of contention, according to Milieudefensie, is that in theory Dutch farmers can sell their cheeses more easily in Canada under CETA by lifting import duties. Yet the competitive advantage is mainly for Canada, since Canadian farmers can produce much cheaper than Dutch farmers due to more flexible regulations.
On the political side, Milieudefensie asserts that while the Netherlands is experiencing an acute nitrogen crisis, the cabinet and the Senate faction of the PvdA (Dutch Labour Party) are sending a double signal with CETA.
That is, Dutch farmers must reduce their livestock for environmental reasons, while the “generally cheaper and dirtier Canadian agriculture can compete unhindered on the European market.”
Nearly seven years after CETA came into force, the predicted surge in exports to the EU has not taken place. In contrast, many EU farmers have significantly strengthened their positions in the Canadian market.
The French agri-food sector, which represents 23 percent of total French exports to Canada, increased its export volumes by 47 percent between 2017 and 2023. Wines and spirits are up 45 percent, strengthening France’s position as the leading exporter to Canada in this area, with 12 percent of total exports.
Only 17 of 27 EU states have ratified CETA, while the European Commission takes measures to persuade the remaining 10 countries to approve the agreement. As part of this, the commission and Canada have recently agreed on the “interpretation” of parts CETA that relate to investor protection from environmental regulation that could make CETA and its conditions clearer for farmers.
