Answer given by Ms Malmström on behalf of the Commission
16.6.2016
Between October 2009 and 29 February 2016, when the final, legally reviewed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) text was published on the Commission's website, nine official CETA rounds and a number of additional working sessions were organised. The overall cost of organisation of this process for the Directorate General for Trade (DG TRADE) had been EUR 1,031,452.26 out of which EUR 820 651.69[1] relate to the cost of various missions and EUR 210 800.57 for the logistics of the rounds organised by the EU in Brussels[2].
In addition, in 2010 DG TRADE commissioned the Sustainable Impact Assessment study for the cost of EUR 181 651.20 and in 2014 DG TRADE commissioned an Economic Impact Assessment of CETA for the cost of EUR 59 500.00. Both assessments are among the commitments made by DG TRADE to underpin each negotiation by appropriate analysis.
While the Commission is unable to provide the exact cost of CETA translations, it would like to underline that the principle of providing legislation in all EU languages is enshrined in the EU treaties and the cost of all language services in all EU institutions amounts to less than 1% of the annual general budget of the EU.
Recent estimations show that trade liberalisation negotiated in CETA will lead to EU export growth of nearly EUR 5.8 billion and an increase in EU GDP by 0.01% corresponding to a gain of nearly EUR 1.7 billion. As a result of CETA the EU will eliminate 97.7% of the EU tariff lines at the entry into force of the agreement and then gradually within three, five or seven years for an additional 1% of tariff lines for imports of goods originating in Canada. The duty losses are estimated to amount to EUR 311 million upon full implementation of the Agreement (after seven years).
- [1] EUR 69 487.92 of this amount corresponds to the joint missions of the DG TRADE staff, when the negotiators had been traveling to several negotiations and the exact cost of a mission to Canada is impossible to distinguish.
- [2] When organising negotiating rounds in Brussels DG TRADE recurrently makes use of a Framework Contract (FWC) to organise events, conferences, seminars and meetings. In these cases the costs involved are linked to logistical arrangements e.g. meeting rooms, technical equipment or working lunches and refreshments. On the other hand, when rounds are organised by our negotiating partner, the costs incurred are mainly linked to travel and accommodation.