Earlier this week the European Union and Canada signed a free trade agreement, referred to as Ceta (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement). The agreement can be applied provisionally once the European Parliament ratifies it in December. However, for it to be fully put in place, it will have to be ratified by the EU member states’ national and regional parliaments. In fact there was nearly going to be no agreement because of the objections of the French-speaking Belgians.

It needs to be remembered that it took seven years of negotiations to reach agreement. Moreover, this was the first such agreement the European Union has negotiated with one of the world’s leading economies. At present there are ongoing negotiations with the United States.

So the upside could be that this agreement with Canada will serve as a model for future economic agreements that the EU will go into with other countries.

The downside is the approval process of such agreements, which could create severe difficulties in reaching agreement with the United Kingdom as part of the Brexit negotiations.

Going back to the merits of Ceta, what is so good about it? Canada has pursued this agreement with the European Union as it seeks to restructure its economy to make it less dependent on the commodities it produces. It is recognised that the international commodities market is very volatile.

Therefore restructuring the economy to develop new productive activities would help to render more stability to the Canadian economy.

From the side of the European Union, Jean Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, was quoted saying: “By scrapping almost all import duties, European exporters of industrial and agricultural goods will save up to €500 million every year.” Generally speaking Ceta is expected to offer EU firms more and better business opportunities in Canada and support jobs in Europe.

What is in Ceta for Malta? For producers of goods and services which are exported, this may mean the opening up of new markets. It may also serve as an incentive for Maltese businesses to venture beyond our shores

It will achieve this broad objective as it will remove customs duties, end restrictions on access to public contracts, open-up the services market, offer predictable conditions for investors and help prevent illegal copying of EU innovations and traditional products.

These are all elements which are very much at heart of several European Union countries, especially those who have businesses that produce food products, that have a leading edge in particular technology, that believe that the European market has matured and need to venture into new markets, and that are competing with US producers in the Canadian market.

Thus Ceta is an attempt by the EU to open up opportunities for EU businesses.

The EU agreement with Canada contains another important aspect which is also critical for European businesses.

EU-based businesses complain (and rightly so) that they face unfair competition because the rules by which they have to abide are too stringent, while producers in other countries do not have to abide by such rules. These rules could relate to product liability, food safety, environment protection, workers rights, etc.

One approach to resolving this issue would have been for the EU to change its rules. However, what has happened in this case is that Ceta will fully uphold Europe’s standards, and so it contains all the guarantees to make sure that the economic gains do not come at the expense of democracy, the environment or workers’ health and safety.

Maybe reaching agreement with Canada on this point may not have been so difficult. On the other hand, by introducing this concept in the agreement with Canada, the EU has set a precedent which it must use in future agreements with other countries.

What is in Ceta for Malta? For producers of goods and services which are exported, this may mean the opening up of new markets. It may also serve as an incentive for Maltese businesses to venture beyond our shores.

Unfortunately we could also choose to do nothing about it until someone does the work for us. It is this last element that we need to address as a country. How can we exploit fully the opportunities that Ceta is presenting?