Bismarck

Not really, the EU is built in a way that national sovereignty is paramount even to democracy. That is also an important reason that the EU is not working. It's not about the half billion inhabitants, but about the few dozen member state governments. Any impopulair measure is taken via the EU, using the EU as a scapegoat, while shielding national governments (who in reality decide in the EU) from backlash. I'm just wondering how the UK government is gonna work now they lost their scapegoat.

Unfortunately, I'm quite sure my government knows less details about CETA than I do (they haven't given it a read for sure, in contrast to the Walloon government and parliament). The only trust I have is that they will act according to the advise they are given from the big corporations that will hire them after they end their political career (I don't know if this is practise in Canada, but in Europe, ministers tend to end up in the boards of big corporations mainly in the banking, transport or energy sector after about two terms). Maybe on average this treaty might be beneficial, but unfortunately the benefits will flow to a small group that is already well endowed, whereas the uglier consequences will land on the rest of us. Also please refrain from calling CETA a trade deal. It's a political deal, with a trade facade to fool the public..

What do you guys think about CETA itself (as opposed to who's fault or problem it is that the deal is in trouble)? As a European I'm not opposed to ending trade tariffs, however, I'm very much opposed to the investor provisions of the agreement. The "indirect expropriation" clause comes down to outright political meddling and forms an attack on state autonomy by forbidding government investment if it competes with private investment (which corporations can abuse in numerous ways) and the ISDS clause (renamed, but still part of the agreement) is a flagrant display of distrust in European (and Canadian) legal systems. I can hardly imagine that Canadians (especially those supporting the Trudeau government, which is rumoured to be liberal) are not worried about these topics.