Several events fairly modest took place Saturday across France to denounce the Ceta, the free trade agreement between the european Union and Canada, the signing of which is planned for 27 October.
Some 5,000 people according to the organisers, 1,200 to 1.500 according to a police source, have marched to Paris under a large autumn sun, between the place Stalingrad and that of the Republic.
The protesters were also mobilized against the Tafta (or TTIP), a proposed free trade agreement with the United States, the scope of which would be a lot more important but the conclusion of which is envisaged for this year.
“These agreements, it is in the name of growth call into question the social and environmental standards for the benefit of multinationals,” said Murielle Guilbert, national secretary of the union syndicale Solidaires, during a press briefing before the start of the event.
The organizers felt encouraged by the veto put on Friday at the signing of the Ceta by the Parliament of Wallonia, whose concurrence is indispensable to the ratification of this treaty, negotiated for seven years by the EU.
“We are here to support the position of Wallonia, which can disrupt the Aacc,” explained Jean-François Pellissier, Together!
“These agreements will promote the exploitation of oil sands, which are the most polluting in Canada”, said fears for her part, Anne-Céline Guyon, an activist canadian present at the event.
- the Events in Spain and in Poland -
Lyon, about 250 people gathered in the late morning in the city centre. Dressed in yellow vests and tapping on pots and pans with the help of wooden spoons, the opponents formed a human chain forming the word “NO”.
in Toulouse, more than 200 people who have chanted, “Ceta, Tafta, you don’t want”.
parades also took place Saturday in Spain, where several thousands of people were mobilized in Madrid, while in Poland, Warsaw has brought together a thousand demonstrators and Krakow (south) a few hundred.
In Germany, a day of protests against the Tafta, was mobilized last month between 163.000 and 320,000 people.
The Ceta provides for the abolition of customs duties for almost all products between the EU and Canada, with a few exceptions, including some agricultural products.
But this treaty will also “open the possibility to import massive amounts of products, which are not allowed with us into the circuit of consumption”, said Nicolas Hulot, who was interviewed on France Info.
in addition, the Aacc will open to EU enterprises in the canadian public markets. The Europeans had already given wide-ranging access to their markets to canadian businesses.
15/10/2016 22:08:51 – Paris (AFP) – © 2016 AFP
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