France delays new EU-Canada trade deal vote after Senate setback

The French government will delay holding another vote on the European Union’s free-trade deal with Canada, after an embarrassing setback in the Senate. 

Last week, a coalition of senators from communists to conservatives coalesced to vote against ratifying the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, known as CETA.

To advance the full ratification of the agreement — which is already in force provisionally — the bill will need to return to the National Assembly. 

“The bill will be submitted when the time comes, but not before the European elections, because the subject requires time for a calm debate,” Trade Minister Franck Riester said in the French daily Le Figaro on Wednesday.

Polls for the June European Parliament elections show Macron’s party and its allies trailing Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which has called for returning EU powers to member states. The bloc’s trade deals are becoming a flash point in the election debate as farmers continue to protest against low incomes and EU regulations.