The European Commission has denied reports that the German government has threatened to put the brakes on the free trade agreement between the EU and Canada.
Opponents of the EU-US free trade agreement are hoping to get their day in the European Court of Justice after the EU's executive body rejected a citizens’ initiative to throw out the neoliberal pact.
Canada’s Conservative government is taking heat after Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet quietly ratified a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with China after sitting on it for two years during which it was strongly criticized and protested.
"This isn't a matter of the big bad Chinese coming and throwing oil all over our beavers and mounties, this is about (for the ten trillionth time in this country's history) a fundamental disrespect for First Nations people, upon whose land we are developing a multi-billion dollar energy extraction industry."
Danish companies -- such as pharmaceutical giant Novo-Nordisk, who will get expanded patent protection in Canada -- see huge opportunities for boosting their revenues through CETA.