Macron left seething after ex-ally urges EU-Canada trade deal be blocked by parliament

Ex-ally Nicolas Hulot “should have voiced his concerns” about the trade pact back when he was the country’s ecology minister, Mr Macron told reporters during a press conference at the Elysée presidential palace.

While the pact lifts tariffs on most goods and services between Canada and the EU, critics fear it will bring unfair competition to French farmers as Canada’s environmental legislation is less strict. 

“True idealism” consists in facing the facts, the 41-year-old retorted as he sought to defend the trade deal. 

The expected ratification of the pact “is a step in the right direction” so long as it is “implemented properly,” Mr Macron insisted.  

Mr Hulot, a former nature programme presenter, is by far the most popular political figure in France.

The ex-Macron ally resigned during a live radio interview in August 2018 in protest at the sluggish pace of the government’s environmental reforms, badly denting the president’s green credentials. 

The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) provisionally took effect from September 2017, but still needs to be approved by all 28 EU member states. 

The pact scraps tariffs on nearly all goods and services between Canada and Europe, which the bloc has promised will remove 590 million euros (£528 million) in customs duties each year.

But in an open letter to lawmakers published on the Franceinfo radio website, Mr Hulot urged parliament “to have the courage to say no” to the deal. 

“When all these lobbies are already trying to break down the door, why give them a battering ram with CETA?” he said.  

Opponents of CETA say it will bring unfair competition to French farmers as Canada’s environmental laws are much looser than France’s. 

Rights activists, for their part, have warned the deal could undermine labour or environmental and health standards by giving corporate interests too much weight in setting industry regulations, while also encouraging governments to privatise public services.

Pro-Macron MPs jumped to the president’s defence, with one unnamed parliamentary source telling Franceinfo that Mr Hulot was unnecessarily “fuelling fears”. 

Marc Fesneau, the minister in charge of relations with parliament, said he regretted the fact that Mr Hulot had all but “given up” the fight against climate change by quitting the Macron camp.  

The French government, already under fire for not making the environment a bigger priority, reiterated that the treaty was beneficial for the country. 

“With CETA, we are sure that we will not import the kind of agriculture that we do not want,” Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume said on France 2 television. 

“I understand the concerns … but there is no reason to be afraid” of CETA, Mr Guillaume said in a separate interview with Europe 1 radio on Tuesday.  

If France’s parliament ratifies the agreement – which is likely, as Mr Macron’s centrist La République en Marche (LREM) party has a comfortable majority – France will become the 14th EU country to do so. 

However, the agreement can technically be scrapped altogether if an EU member state formally notifies Brussels that it has permanently rejected it. A year ago, Italy said it would not ratify it.

France’s Senate, which is held by the conservative opposition, will vote on CETA this autumn but does not have the power to block it.

source: express.co.uk