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European parliament passes EU-Canada free trade deal amid protests
Excerpt:
The above is good news even if the amount of jobs "created" is just some journalistic fluff.
The EU needs some good news for Europeans to understand that, in the typical "2-years later" wait, the EU is following the US in exiting the worst Great Recession since the GD of the 1930s. The US started meekly creating jobs in 2014.
Let's just hope that the EU is a bit smarter for that sad experience. The EU-countries have to learn that financial profligacy is a stoopid way for politicians to get reelected. It simply puts off "the day of dire reckoning". (Of course, why should they care. By then, most are retired.)
Strangely enough, the Guardian also reports that the US is putting pressure on milady (Mme. Lagarde) at the IMF to renounce a large portion of the Greek debt that it holds. (Which surprises a great many who did not think that Trump could even find the country on a map!)
But since the US gives the IMF one helluva-lotta-muney, it has some weight in the matter. Greece cooked the books (helped by Goldman Sachs) to get into the EU, and guess where the new Treasury Secretary (Steven Mnuchin) spent most of his career running the business?
Vicious little me, huh ... ? :roll:
Excerpt:
Controversial Ceta deal aims to eliminate 98% of tariffs on exported goods but critics say it will lead to privatisation of public sector. Ceta isn’t perfect, but Europe’s radical left was wrong to oppose it.
The European parliament has passed the controversial EU-Canada free trade deal, while protesters staged a sit-in at the gates of the building in Strasbourg, France.
The agreement was celebrated by some as a victory for global free trade in the face of growing US protectionism under the government of Donald Trump. The agreement aims to eliminate 98% of tariffs on exported goods, making it the EU’s most comprehensive trade deal to date.
Trade between the two sides amounts to more than 60bn euros (C$83bn) a year, and the EU expects the so-called Ceta deal (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) to boost this by 20% by removing almost all tariffs.
Supporters claim the pact will be worth £1.3bn (C$2.1bn, $1.6bn) a year to Britain alone, in the period before the UK withdraws from the EU.
The EU commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, called it “an important milestone” and said “EU companies and citizens will start to reap the benefits the agreement offers as soon as possible”.
Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the ALDE liberal group, said: “President Trump has given us another good reason to intensify our links with Canada. While Trump introduces tariffs, we are not only tearing them down but also setting the highest progressive standards.”
The above is good news even if the amount of jobs "created" is just some journalistic fluff.
The EU needs some good news for Europeans to understand that, in the typical "2-years later" wait, the EU is following the US in exiting the worst Great Recession since the GD of the 1930s. The US started meekly creating jobs in 2014.
Let's just hope that the EU is a bit smarter for that sad experience. The EU-countries have to learn that financial profligacy is a stoopid way for politicians to get reelected. It simply puts off "the day of dire reckoning". (Of course, why should they care. By then, most are retired.)
Strangely enough, the Guardian also reports that the US is putting pressure on milady (Mme. Lagarde) at the IMF to renounce a large portion of the Greek debt that it holds. (Which surprises a great many who did not think that Trump could even find the country on a map!)
But since the US gives the IMF one helluva-lotta-muney, it has some weight in the matter. Greece cooked the books (helped by Goldman Sachs) to get into the EU, and guess where the new Treasury Secretary (Steven Mnuchin) spent most of his career running the business?
Vicious little me, huh ... ? :roll: