Germany’s top court opened hearings on Wednesday as opponents sought to put the brakes on a controversial EU-Canada trade pact scheduled to close later this month. Activist groups, national opposition lawmakers and a member of the European parliament are trying to convince the Federal Constitutional Court to make the German government veto the plan at a European Union meeting next week. The judges in Karlsruhe have said they aim to issue an interim ruling on the five lawsuits Thursday morning. The EU and Canada have been negotiating the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, since 2009. Like its counterpart TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, being thrashed out between the U.S. and the EU, CETA has come under public criticism on both sides of the Atlantic. Opponents argue the accords will cost thousands of jobs, promote industrial agriculture and lower standards. National Parliaments The German suits say CETA would undermine the principle of democracy because it bypasses parliament by entrusting some rulemaking to a committee set up under the treaty. They complain that, under the pact, the EU transgresses its powers because it plans to allow provisional implementation of the rules even before national parliaments have ratified them. The plaintiffs also argue that the pact would subject Germany to a special arbitration court in cases that the country’s constitution has reserved to national courts. They also claim the agreement would topple the European principle that a product cannot be sold unless proven safe. Instead, the pact gives way to the North American principle that you can’t ban a product unless it’s been proven dangerous. The suits echo arguments in other German cases seeking to rein in European integration—including litigation against the European Central Bank’s OMT bond-buying program, which was brought by some of the same plaintiffs. While these cases have all been dismissed, the judges generally attached some strings to ensure the German parliament preserved its influence. Among the plaintiffs also involved in the OMT fight is Mehr Demokratie e.V., a group that seeks to introduce more direct democracy in Germany. This time it joined forces with political activist groups Foodwatch and Compact to file a suit on behalf of about 125,000 plaintiffs. Another suit was initiated by a 70-year-old flute teacher who, with the help of the Internet, collected 68,000 people joining her case. The European Council is scheduled to clear CETA in a vote on Oct. 18 and the pact is due to be signed at a EU-Canada summit on Oct. 27. The agreement would cut trade barriers between the EU’s market of more than 500 million people and Canada, the world’s 10th-biggest economy last year.