The Estonian Trade Union Confederation today sent a letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs Jürgen Ligi recommending not to ratify the EU-Canada Free Trade Agreement (CETA) in its current wording and to open it for renegotiation.

"We strongly recommend avoiding the agreement in its current wording, as it contains a number of critical issues, such as dispute settlement and regulatory cooperation rules between the investor and the public sector, which pose a threat to democracy and the rule of law," said Kalle Liivamägi, chairman of the Union of Public Administration Employees.

According to Liivamägi, the ratification of the EU-Canada FTA is not supported by many EU-Canada trade unions, civil society organisations or local governments. "We want to avoid lowering labour, social, environmental, privacy and consumer standards," he added.

According to the authors of the letter, the biggest threat to public services comes from the extensive investment protection provisions in the FTA. The most sensitive areas of public services, including education, water, health, social care and pensions, will be vulnerable to all kinds of attacks from investors.

"We are particularly concerned that CETA is set to become the first EU agreement to use a 'negative list' approach to service-related commitments. The use of the negative list significantly broadens the scope of a trade agreement, as governments make commitments in areas they may not be aware of, such as services that may emerge in the future," the letter says.

The trade union confederation takes the view that as long as CETA does not protect our general interest regulatory options, it should be rejected. Dozens of other trade unions in Europe and Canada have taken a similar position. In many parts of Europe, tens of thousands of opponents of the Canadian FTA have also taken to the streets.