30 October 2016

European Council: 16th EU-Canada summit - Joint declaration

6. CETA considerably enhances the framework for our bilateral trade relations and offers new economic opportunities. On both sides of the Atlantic, we will therefore engage actively with citizens, workers, entrepreneurs, producers and companies to ensure that our stakeholders can seize the opportunities that CETA brings and benefit from the agreement from the outset.

7. This landmark agreement between Canada and the EU sends a positive signal about the importance of free, fair and progressive international trade. We commit to working together to promote these principles in the multilateral arena, notably in the WTO. We are also committed to working together towards our common objective of an independent and impartial multilateral investment court. [...]

20. We welcome and recognize the value of enhanced mobility, including through visa-free travel between the European Union and Canada for all of our respective citizens, as envisaged in the Canada-EU Strategic Partnership Agreement. The decision of Canada to lift, in late 2017, visa requirements for all Bulgarian and Romanian citizens will further facilitate the strong cultural, educational, family and business relations that exist between Canada and Europe. [...]

16th EU-Canada summit - Joint declaration, Brussels, 30 October 2016

Remarks by President Donald Tusk at the 16th EU-Canada summit

[...] The battle for CETA also showed how important impressions and emotions are in the modern world. It showed that facts and figures won't stand up for themselves alone. That post-factual reality and post-truth politics pose a great challenge on both sides of the Atlantic. Free trade and globalisation have protected hundreds of millions of people from poverty and hunger. The problem is that few people believe this. Free trade and globalisation protect humanity from total conflict, the problem is that few people understand this. The controversy around CETA has demonstrated that our first priority is to give people honest and convincing information about the real effects of free trade. That the alternative to free trade is isolationism and protectionism, a return to national egoisms, and as a result - the threat of violent conflict. We should be able to convince our citizens that free trade is in their interest, and not just big companies and corporations.

Today we also signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement. It provides a robust framework for expanding our cooperation in a wide range of areas including foreign policy, crisis management, security and defence, energy and climate, enhanced mobility and people-to-people exchanges. I welcome the decision by Canada to lift visa requirements for all Bulgarian and Romanian citizens in late 2017. [...]

Full remarks

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