6. #CETA: Four years of CETA! A reason to celebrate?

CETA, the ground-breaking EU Canada free trade deal four years on. With success stories now abounding, what are the ground realities for an agreement whose successful conclusion once teetered amid widespread protests and delays? The C in CETA isn’t Canada. It’s comprehensive. That’s what made it different: more modern and more broad-reaching across economic, labour, environmental and climate issues. This is over and above the bricks-and-mortar business of eliminating tariffs on goods and services and opening up new markets on both sides of the Atlantic. So how has it stood the test of time? Albeit quite a short time and one gigantically distorted by the effects of the Covid pandemic? Pretty well, it seems. “We had an increase in exports to Canada in the middle of a recession,” says John Clarke, chief negotiator for DG Agri at CETA and one of the directorate’s directors. This sixth episode of “Food for Europe” features a wide-ranging interview with John Clarke that looks well beyond the controversies of this agreement, to implementation by both sides of climate commitments, sustainable farming and Europe’s food security. We also report from the Beaujolais wine region in France, following producer Philippe Bardet during the collecting and pressing of this year’s grape harvest. He’s delighted to see exports to Canada increase in the past four years, but also concerned about protections for Europe’s celebrated geographical denominations and indications.