European Parliament approves CETA agreement. Romanians will be able to travel to Canada without visas as of December 1

The trade agreement between the European Union and Canada, which will allow Romanians to travel without visas to the North American state, was approved on Wednesday by an overwhelming majority in the European Parliament.

The CETA trade agreement received 408 votes in favour, 254 against and 33 MEPs abstained from voting. The agreement must now enter the ratification procedure in each EU country, which will be a quite lengthy procedure. Therefore, Canada and the EU agreed that some provisions of the agreement would enter into force before the end of the procedure, i.e. as of April 1, 2017.

Thus, the visa waiving requirements for Romanians – that depended on ratification of this agreement – comes into force, partly, as of end of April. It’s about the Romanians who have travelled before to Canada and have previously obtained a visa. They can freely enter Canada as of May 1. Then, as of December 1, all Romanians will be able to travel without visas in Canada.

CETA means the removal of 98% of custom duties valid so far in the trade between the European Union and Canada. It would mean an extra EUR 12 billion in the EU pocket, an amount not very impressive considering that it represents less than 1% of the EU’s GDP.

“There is a modest relationship between Romania and Canada of about EUR 200 million annually in both directions. This is a direct relationship. It is important for the small and medium sized enterprises in the field of electro-technical machine building, for furniture production and shipbuilding,” said the Romanian MEP Iuliu Winkler, member of the Trade Committee, for digi24.ro.