The PCP values the position of the regional government and parliament of Wallonia, Belgium, of rejecting the “Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement” (CETA), a position which under the Belgian Constitution prevents its signature by the Belgian federal government, thus blocking the process aimed at the signing of this free trade and services agreement between the European Union and Canada.
This position is an important contribution to combat and defeat CETA, an agreement that the EU was preparing to sign and bring into force after opaque negotiations and without the knowledge of the peoples and by means of a process that constitutes a disregard for democracy and the sovereignty of the States.
The current blocking of CETA assumes far greater significance in view of the enormous pressure from the European Union and the Canadian government to overcome it, namely by resorting to any type of subterfuge.
The position now adopted by the regional parliament of Wallonia helps to denounce the aims and consequences of this Agreement which, if adopted, would represent a tool to curtail social, labour, environmental and healthcare rights, to place the interests of multinationals above the interests of the peoples and the Constitutions and sovereignty of States, and yet another step in the escalade of liberalisation of world trade - with serious consequences for Portugal.
A position that proves the importance and validity of the struggle of the peoples to uphold their interests and rights, setting an example and stimulus for the continuation and intensification of the fight against CETA and other agreements of free trade and services, such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) or the agreement on liberalisation of services (TiSA –Trade in Services Agreement).
The PCP, saluting the workers and the Belgian people and the Workers’ Party of Belgium for their struggle against CETA, TTIP and TiSA, values and calls for the continuation of the struggles in the various countries of Europe by the workers and their representative organisations, by organisations and platforms against free trade agreements, by communist parties and other progressive forces, for the rejection of these agreements.
The PCP will continue to fight, including with its intervention in the Assembly of the Republic and in the European Parliament, against free trade and services agreements dictated by the interests of transnational capital and defend mutually advantageous cooperation agreements, to safeguard national sovereignty, which meet the needs and interests of the peoples, which defend and promote social, labour and democratic rights, the right to economic and social development.
