BERLIN, July 1 (Reuters) - The European Parliament and EU
member states' national assemblies must approve a trade deal
between the bloc and Canada before it can be adopted, a German
Economy Ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.
"The federal government considers that CETA is a mixed
agreement. This is not only the view of the federal government,
it has also been expressed by the European Council and other
member states," the spokeswoman said.
"And therefore it is clear that without the approval of the
European Parliament and the national parliament there could be
no CETA," she added, appearing to contradict European Commission
plans for a simple approval procedure for the trade deal.
The European Commission will on July 5 propose that the
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) would be an
"EU-only" agreement. This would mean it would be adopted if
backed by representatives of member states and by the European
Parliament.
(Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Paul Carrel)