The French Senate rejected yesterday, Thursday, the ratification of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), known as "CETA", which is a free trade agreement between Canada and the European Union, thanks to a temporary alliance between the left-wing and right-wing oppositions, causing great displeasure to the government of Gabriel Attal, who defends the agreement.

In a highly tense atmosphere, the members of the Senate rejected by a majority of 211 votes to 44 the article of the bill related to this agreement, which has been temporarily applied for seven years without ever being submitted to the Senate, then confirmed this rejection in a final vote.

This agreement, effective since 2017 without France having fully ratified it, is facing harsh criticism amid a climate characterized by an agricultural crisis and European elections in June.

The agreement was signed in October 2016, and was ratified by the European Parliament in February 2017.

In France, it was ratified by the National Assembly (House of Representatives), by a narrow margin, in July 2019. However, the government did not submit it to the Senate for a vote, despite it being a necessary step.

The rejection of the agreement today by the Senate leads to its review by the National Assembly, where there is a serious risk that the French deputies will reject it this time.

If the parliament of one of the EU member states announces that it will not ratify the agreement, this leads to reconsidering its provisional application at the level of the entire European Union, but on the condition that the government of the concerned state informs the European Union of its parliament's decision.

Currently, there are ten EU member states that have not yet completed the ratification process of the agreement, while only one country, Cyprus, has rejected it.

However, the Cypriot government has not officially informed the European Union of this rejection, which allows the agreement's application to continue.

The French Minister of Foreign Trade, Franck Riester, spoke to the media before the Senate vote and strongly defended the agreement fearing sending a "devastating signal" to France's European partners.

This agreement, which eliminates tariffs on 98% of products traded between Canada and the European Union, faces strong criticism, especially from French livestock farmers who point to imports of meat at much lower cost prices than theirs and under less stringent conditions than those they are subjected to.