Lawmakers in the small Belgian region of Wallonia today (14 October) voted to block an EU-Canada trade deal in a move set to have serious implications for future trade talks with the United States and a non-EU UK.
Advertisement
Members of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee have debated the proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada, ahead of a crucial vote in December.
Belgium’s federal government led by liberal Prime Minister Charles Michel favours the pact – one of his allies told Namur lawmakers they were making Wallonia “the Cuba of Europe”.
“It is now up to the European institutions to listen to this signal and bury these unsafe treaties”, he added.
The pact would cut trade barriers between the EU’s market of more than 500 million people and Canada, the world’s 10th-biggest economy a year ago. French President Francois Hollande asked Magnette to come to Paris on Friday to discuss the matter, a move seen by some as an unprecedented outreach by the leader of the French republic.
“We’ve always known it’s going to require hard work right to the very end”, he said.
However, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made clear he was losing patience with the European Union over the pact, which both sides say could boost bilateral trade by 20 percent.
Magnette on Friday urged the Belgian government to renegotiate the interpretative text, saying four or five European Union member states are reluctant about the deal.
Activists charge that the Canada deal will set a risky precedent and open the way for a similar but far more ambitious agreement with the United States, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Ironically, one of the major backers of CETA remains the United Kingdom despite the fact the recent referendum means the country will be leaving the European Union in 2019.
“It’s a scandal that there is an attempt to force through a vote on CETA by December, taking away the democratic scrutiny that is essential to a deal as wide-ranging and controversial as CETA”.
Virginie Defrang-Firket, from Michel’s liberal party, warned: “You will isolate Wallonia, make it the Cuba of Europe”.
“It’s actually a new standard for the kinds of trade deals that demonstrates that it’s good for ordinary citizens and small business, not just big companies and the countries’ bottom lines”, he said.
According to the oral ruling: “The government has to ensure that a EU Council decision about the temporary application only extends to those parts of CETA that unquestionably fall under EU competency”.
Opponents argue that CETA is undemocratic and will undermine workers’ rights and worsen standards for consumers.
Advertisement
Friday’s parliamentary vote is not binding on the regional government so a major diplomatic push was immediately mounted to persuade Paul Magnette, the Wallonia leader, to back away from his pledge to withhold his region’s support.
