International Trade committee  Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank all of you very much. I am always happy to come back.

International Trade committee  No, I mean we are the first trading partner for 80 countries worldwide.

International Trade committee  What we will be signing or what we are hoping to achieve with the U.S. is also a very comprehensive agreement. It's a trade and investment agreement. It will be different. It will not be identical, but I think it will also be a very ambitious agreement.

International Trade committee  It's very difficult, because the negotiations with the U.S. only started not so long ago. But the intention is to be ambitious. I am not expert enough to compare how far-reaching it will be, but at this moment this is the most comprehensive and ambitious agreement that the Euro

International Trade committee  Well, the agriculture sector is very important. The agricultural policy route of the European Union is, for example, an exclusive competence. It is always an important sector in any country worldwide. It's always a very sensitive sector also, and therefore I don't want to minimiz

International Trade committee  I just want to repeat first of all, that CETA has nothing to do with GMOs. Second, GMOs are not a non-tariff barrier.

International Trade committee  Could you repeat the question? Sorry.

International Trade committee  It's going very well because it's not questioning one of the basic elements of the agreement on which there is a political breakthrough. I think we had foreseen that it should end by the end of this month. We are nearly at the end of this month. I think we might have a slight del

International Trade committee  I certainly will pass on your appreciation to our negotiating team. I must say that Canada is an important trade partner for the European Union. Trade is now very considerably.... As I said, Canada is the twelfth trading partner of the European Union and the fourth investor in t

International Trade committee  I'm honestly convinced it will boost trade, for the reasons I've given. But it is an opportunity that will have to be seized by the business people themselves. As I said, the trade agreement itself will not boost trade. It will need the intervention of the companies and the busin

International Trade committee  They will have none, no impact. We will deal with our skeptics. The Euro-skeptics are more skeptical about some internal issues within the European Union, but I would say they are seldom skeptical about external trade relations. Trade is the motor of an economy of growth of empl

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. It is true that environmental standards are very important for the European Union. The E.U. is a leader in that regard, and its environmental legislation is among the most advanced in the world. I should mention that I have visited four provinces up

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. There is no connection between the GMO issue and CETA. This is not covered by CETA.

International Trade committee  Yes, but this will be dealt with separately from the agreement. It has nothing to do with that agreement.

International Trade committee  Karsten, do you have any information on that?