The first meeting of the EU-Canada Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) was held in Brussels on 4 December 2017, following the provisional application of the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) from 1 April 2017 and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) from 21 September 2017. Among the global issues addressed by the meeting, climate change, human rights and democracy, migration, cybersecurity and the fight against terrorism.

 

*Paolo Quattrocchi

 

On 30 October 2016, with the signature of the parties, came to life the strategic partnership agreement and the economic and trade between the European Union and Canada. The Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), provisionally executed since April 1st, and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), provisionally executed since September 21st, are part of a broad international cooperation project, which aims to consolidating the relations between two realities which, in the Atlantic dialogue, will help to ensure a better world balance.

CETA has economic and trade relationships and, through the respective opening of the markets, its objective is to ensure trade growth, industrial capacities, employment levels, research and innovation and in general, the wealth produced, all in full compliance with international trade regulations.

The values and principles that guide the CETA agreement are the same that make the preamble to the strategic partnership agreement, since this combination of agreements arises from the same desire to cooperate.

The 34 articles of the strategic partnership agreement tend to consolidate the relations between the parties and the role of the European Union and Canada in the international context, through the identification of areas and intervention mechanisms, such as:

 

• Human rights, fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law
• International peace and security and effective multilateralism
• Sustainable economic development
• Justice, freedom and security
• Political dialogue and consultation mechanisms

 

Specifically, the SPA contains the enunciation of principles and the assumption of commitments in respect of the values of the United Nations Charter, for a fair partnership and a more cohesive coordination, through the harmonization of systems and procedures at both national and supranational level.

Considering the common commitment undertaken by the parties, the individual issues will be addressed through meetings focused on each area of interest and periodically, in order to analyze, monitor, implement and, where necessary, intervene on phenomena that could jeopardize social integration (gender issue and women's empowerment), disrupting international political arrangements (the issues of North Korea and Iraq) or jeopardizing collective interests (the fight against climate change and sustainable development).

For this reason, last December 4, the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC)[1], began work on the classification of the 2018 intervention areas, with the aim of achieving a prosperous, safe, fair and more inclusive system. The first meeting of the JMC was co-chaired by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, Federica Mogherini and by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Chrystia Freeland.

 

 

Strengthen bilateral relations between Canada and the European Union, improve coordination in foreign affairs and international security, address global challenges and opportunities related to common policies: these are the areas of comparison at the first JMC meeting, which underpins its commitment to 'work together'.

8 months after the provisional provisions of the strategic partnership agreement have come into force, representatives of the European Union and Canada are therefore ready to embark on this path, demonstrating that it is also the concreteness of the actions that distinguish this 'engagement'. The strategic and economic-commercial partnership agreement, in fact, is presented as a document that does not only show principles, but really puts the parties in a position to constantly engage with the major issues of contemporary society. The first activity on which an agreement was reached is that relating to cyber security, a current issue of extreme importance in terms of international security, which was the object of the agreement signed at the first meeting of the JMC: " Security for the Exchange and Protection of Classified Information ". The agreement will improve cooperation in terms of information effectiveness in the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) missions.

 

A Joint Cooperation Committee (Joint Cooperation Committee - JCC[2]), as indicated in the same SPA, will be responsible for monitoring the developments of the planned actions and to report annually, pending the next meetings and also in the perspective of the G7 2018, presided by the Canada.

 

In light of this, it should be recalled that Canada and the European Union have been sharing and cooperating for some time, but the signing of the strategic and economic-commercial partnership agreement has certainly given a further impetus for a broad development perspective, with commercial policies of combating protectionism and strong positions in international politics, assigning to SPA and CETA the task of boosting the growth and development of a solid bilateral reality, which can benefit not only the EU Member States and the Canadian Provinces but also the whole world balance.

 

* Director of the Centro Studi Italia-Canada

Vice president of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada-West

Partner Studio Legale Nctm