EU-Canada trade deal clears crucial hurdle in Parliament trade committee

The European Union's free trade deal with Canada, known as CETA, cleared a crucial hurdle on Tuesday as it was endorsed by the European Parliament's International Trade Committee.

The draft recommendation of the agreement was passed by 25 votes to 15 with one abstention.

The development made way for the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement to be sent to a vote by the entire 751-seat Parliament at the February plenary session in Strasbourg.

"By approving CETA today we take a significant step forward. In the face of rising protectionism and populism, Parliament is able and willing to act on behalf of European citizens," a Parliament statement quoted rapporteur for the CETA agreement Artis Pabriks as saying before the committee's vote.

If the whole European Parliament approves CETA, it could apply provisionally from as early as April 2017. Furthermore, for its full implementation, the deal will need to be ratified by the national and regional parliaments of the EU member states.

The EU-Canada negotiations on the deal were launched in 2009 and concluded five years later. The EU and Canada signed the agreement on Oct. 30, 2016.

Canada ranks 12th amongst the EU's trading partners, and the EU is Canada's second most important trading partner.

In 2015 the EU imported goods from Canada worth 28.3 billion euros (30 billion U.S. dollars) and exported goods to it worth 35.2 billion euros, a figure that is expected to rise by more than 20 percent when the agreement is fully implemented, according to the parliament statement. (1 euro=1.07 U.S. dollars) Endit