Canada walks out as EU trade talks founder

[rooster59]

Canada walks out as EU trade talks founder

MIKE CORDER, Associated Press
LORNE COOK, Associated Press

 

BRUSSELS (AP) — Canada walked out of talks Friday meant to save a massive trade deal with the European Union, unable to break a deadlock with a small Belgian region that has been defying multinational efforts to have the pact signed next week.

 

Fighting back tears, Canadian International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said it had been impossible to overcome the differences with Wallonia, a French-speaking region of barely 3.5 million people.

 

Despite the stunning setback, European officials refused to accept that the pact, which had been agreed on provisionally two years ago, could not be saved. The impasse, however, raises troubling questions about the 28-nation EU's ability to negotiate major international agreements.

 

"I think it's impossible. We've decided to return home," Freeland said after the talks with Walloon officials and EU representatives broke down. "I'm really, really sad. Truly."

 

The pact known colloquially as CETA needs unanimous support within the EU, and Belgium in turn needs unanimity among its regions.

 

"It seems that for me, and for Canada, that the EU is not capable now to have an international deal, even with a nation with such European values like Canada," Freeland said.

 

The deal was supposed to be signed next Thursday in Brussels by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and EU officials and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel worked around the clock to try to break the deadlock.

 

The disagreement has pitted Wallonia, a region smaller than New Jersey, against the entire EU and Canada, with populations of over 500 million and 35 million.

 

An official at the European Commission, which has been chaperoning the pact through negotiations, said it "doesn't consider that this is the end of the process." The official declined to be named because the talks are at an extremely delicate phase.

 

Michael Roth, a deputy German foreign minister, wrote on Twitter that "this can and must not be the end: CETA sets standards for fair trade and shaping globalization."

 

But it was unclear how the EU would keep negotiating with Wallonia in coming days. Certainly the Canadian delegation's departure has heaped great pressure on the region's leader, Paul Magnette.

 

Wallonia wants more guarantees to protect its farmers and Europe's high labor, environmental and consumer standards. It also fears the agreement will allow huge multinationals — first from Canada, later from the United States, if a similar deal with Washington follows — to crush small Walloon enterprises and their way of life.

 

Proponents say the deal would yield billions in added trade through tariff cuts and other measures to lower barriers to commerce. At the same time, the EU says it will keep in place the region's strong safeguards on social, environmental and labor issues.

 

Earlier Friday, Magnette suggested "that, in an amicable way, we jointly postpone the EU-Canada summit and that we give ourselves time."

 

EU leaders warned that failure to clinch the deal with Canada could ruin the bloc's credibility as a trade partner and make it more difficult to strike such agreements with other global allies like the United States and Japan.

 

As the leaders wrapped up a summit in Brussels on Friday afternoon, negotiations fell apart between officials from the EU Commission, regional leaders and Freeland in Wallonia's capital, Namur, 65 kilometers (40 miles) away.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is the EU's single biggest economy, said at the time that she was optimistic a deal would emerge from the talks.

 

Manfred Weber, leader of the EPP Christian Democrats, the biggest group in the European parliament, was less enthusiastic about local politics holding up such a significant international agreement.

 

"Europe cannot be held hostage because of internal political games in the Walloon regional," he said.

 

A similar free trade agreement between the EU and the United States is also being negotiated, but has met with far more opposition than the Canada pact. Progress on the U.S. deal is highly unlikely any time before a new president takes office in the Whitehouse in January.

 

The setbacks are also troubling for international trade talks. Trade's governing world body had been hoping that a series of solid bilateral deals involving major players like the EU,Canada and U.S. would spark enthusiasm for commerce around the globe.

 

As tensions mounted in recent days, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the pact "is the best one we ever concluded and if we will be unable to conclude a trade arrangement with Canada, I don't see how it would be possible to have trade agreements with other parts of this world."

 

Magnette said the question is not about rejecting globalization, but about what kind of rules should govern it: "How will this globalization be done? With strong rules or weak rules? Will it protect public freedoms or will multinationals rule the law?"

 

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-10-22

[daveAustin]

What a waste of space, the EU - conditions, regulations, standards ad nauseam . Never mind, Canada, hang on for a couple of years and you can have a swift, free-trade deal with GB.

[Caps]

Good old EU sh!te again, they couldn't organise a pi55 up in a brewery if it was free beer.  Its rubbish like this which makes me glad we are getting out 

[RuamRudy]

1 hour ago, Caps said:

Good old EU sh!te again, they couldn't organise a pi55 up in a brewery if it was free beer.  Its rubbish like this which makes me glad we are getting out 

 

One of the chief complaints of the Brexit mob was that the EU was an undemocratic institution which rode roughshod over the national interests of the member states, yet here we have an example of a tiny part of the EU recognising the inherent unfairness of a proposed treaty, and using their veto power to block it. Both cannot be right, surely?

[ilostmypassword]

2 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

 

One of the chief complaints of the Brexit mob was that the EU was an undemocratic institution which rode roughshod over the national interests of the member states, yet here we have an example of a tiny part of the EU recognising the inherent unfairness of a proposed treaty, and using their veto power to block it. Both cannot be right, surely?

You beat me to it. And the grounds that Wallonia rejected it on look pretty good to me. Like special courts for investors outside the normal system of justice.  

[FlorC]

Beautiful ! Finally something positive from the government of Wallonia . CETA is another globalist poison like the trade deals with the US .

I hope they don't give in to the pressure .

[lannarebirth]

6 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

 

One of the chief complaints of the Brexit mob was that the EU was an undemocratic institution which rode roughshod over the national interests of the member states, yet here we have an example of a tiny part of the EU recognising the inherent unfairness of a proposed treaty, and using their veto power to block it. Both cannot be right, surely?

 

Sure, both can be right. There can exist simultaneously both the tyranny of the majority and the tyranny of the minority. It all depends on how your constitution is constructed.

[ilostmypassword]

30 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Sure, both can be right. There can exist simultaneously both the tyranny of the majority and the tyranny of the minority. It all depends on how your constitution is constructed.

 

Except that the constant refrain of the Brexiters has been that what Germany wants, Germany gets. And since the German auto industry sells so much to the UK then Germany will ram free trade for the UK down the EU's throat.  That's been exposed for the crock that it is.

[Jonmarleesco]

'The impasse ... raises troubling questions about the 28-nation EU's ability to negotiate major international agreements. '

 

Apoplectic anti-Brexiteers, take note.

[Jonmarleesco]

1 hour ago, RuamRudy said:

 

One of the chief complaints of the Brexit mob was that the EU was an undemocratic institution which rode roughshod over the national interests of the member states, yet here we have an example of a tiny part of the EU recognising the inherent unfairness of a proposed treaty, and using their veto power to block it. Both cannot be right, surely?

You're suggesting the EU is democratic? Actually, one of the chief complaints was that the EEC, come EC, come EU, wanted more and more political power to wield over the member states.

[Anthony5]

3 hours ago, daveAustin said:

What a waste of space, the EU - conditions, regulations, standards ad nauseam . Never mind, Canada, hang on for a couple of years and you can have a swift, free-trade deal with GB.

 

This has nothing to do with the EU, it's about the Wallonia leechers which should have been separated from Belgium long time ago

[smedly]

1 hour ago, ilostmypassword said:

You beat me to it. And the grounds that Wallonia rejected it on look pretty good to me. Like special courts for investors outside the normal system of justice.  

What interests me more is the fact that it was proposed in the first place and that such a debacle had general support throughout the other EU member states

[ilostmypassword]

30 minutes ago, Anthony5 said:

 

This has nothing to do with the EU, it's about the Wallonia leechers which should have been separated from Belgium long time ago

Thank you so much for introducing me to a new prejudice.  You can never have enough people to look down on.

[Anthony5]

4 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Thank you so much for introducing me to a new prejudice.  You can never have enough people to look down on.

 

I suspect you are not a Belgian, so I suggest you read up a bit more on the Wallonia debacle in Belgium, then come back to comment on something you know about

[Thaidream]

I don't know much about Wallonia but I find it hard to believe that any one region of any country should be able to block the signing of an International treaty between sovereign countries .If this is the case then the EU is in big trouble because it will be extremely difficult to negotiate business in  the EU with any country including the UK. 

To me Brexit makes sense in that the UK had to cede sovereignty to the EU which then finds itself without a way to use the concept of majority rule to move Europe forward. Europe simply has too many centuries of independent sovereign countries with different customs and cultures to really make it work well. The UK was very smart in never adopting the Euro and keeping the Pound. The economy of the UK is in better shape than Europe and I would expect the Pound to eventually regain its dominance and the Euro to spiral downward. In my opinion, the only thing keeping what's left of the EU  in check is the German economy and the German stranglehold on many member states. It can't last much longer as the Germans are the odd person out regarding Immigration; refugees and open borders. I believe it will all end up with the old Common Market concept  but no EU.

 

[elgordo38]

Its funny how Brussels can keep most of the big players in the EU in check and here come the Walloons or somebody and torpedo's the whole deal. It just shows another one of the many flaws in the EU as a whole. As Babylon did the EU will implode to with the help of the bankrupt banking system. Greeks new form will soon be a standard requirement in much of the EU. Please fill in all your worldly possessions so we can tax them. We rely on your honesty? Who keeps governments honest?

[jollyhangmon]

6 hours ago, Caps said:

Good old EU sh!te again, they couldn't organise a pi55 up in a brewery if it was free beer.  Its rubbish like this which makes me glad we are getting out 

 

Good riddance then ...

[Grubster]

I'm with Wallonia as it sounds like they are not willing to sell out their working class citizens to the Bigs. Hang in there Wallonia.

[SheungWan]

7 hours ago, Caps said:

Good old EU sh!te again, they couldn't organise a pi55 up in a brewery if it was free beer.  Its rubbish like this which makes me glad we are getting out 

 

Looking forward to returning to the old mass production glories of the British car industry. Friday afternoon specials while the workers tanked up from the 'er.... brewery.

Edited October 22, 2016 by SheungWan

[IMA_FARANG]

The real ptoblem here is that all the regions in the EU must agree with each other, that is there must be a 100 percent concensus.

That is simply not realistic, since different regions will always have different perspectives  and honest disagreements on the best interests of their own region.

Even in the U.K., Scotland and Wales do not agree on everything.

Why should the french speakers and the non French speakers in Belgium be expected to think alike with their different historical views.

That is, and always will be the EU's problem.

To expect 100 percent c9ncensus is unrealistic, human beings are not built like that.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ace of Pop]

 
Looking forward to returning to the old mass production glories of the British car industry. Friday afternoon specials while the workers tanked up from the 'er.... brewery.

Yes The Japs got the Car ting right and Friday evenings were for Suicide only


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Ulic]

It has become abundantly obvious over the past 20 years that these free trade deals are written by corporations for corporations and submitted to governments by lobbyists.  That said if the EU cannot close a deal with Canada, a country with similar living standards and social values the EU will not be able to close a free trade deal with anyone. The UK was right to leave such a dysfunctional group and chart its own path. Of course the UK will suffer. But the EU should be about free trade. Of the four freedoms, freedom of

movement is the one causing the most trouble. Get rid of the euro as well and you would be on the right track.

[Caps]

4 hours ago, jollyhangmon said:

 

Good riddance then ...

My sentiments exactly 

[Naam]

5 hours ago, Thaidream said:

The economy of the UK is in better shape than Europe and I would expect the Pound to eventually regain its dominance and the Euro to spiral downward.

the Pound started to lose whatever dominance was left after WWII, nearly half a century ago when Harold Wilson cut the 2.80 Dollar peg down to 2.40 (november 1967).

[ilostmypassword]

7 hours ago, Thaidream said:

The economy of the UK is in better shape than Europe and I would expect the Pound to eventually regain its dominance and the Euro to spiral downward. 

 

Well, it really depends on how you evaluate a nation's economy. What's an economy for? If you evaluate that way you find that the UK has huge income inequality compared to Northern European nations. Life is much better for the middle class there than it is in the UK. The big problem for the EU is the Euro.  If that's gotten rid of, then the EU will flourish mightily.  As for the pound to regain its dominance? Really? How? It's got a disastrously bad manufacturing base.  The financial industry is going to take a sharp hit.  The only thing that can protect the British economy is a sharp devaluation of the pound. But that will mean lower standards of living for most British citizens. I don't see why you think the pound will rise. That said, I don't think that Brexit will be a disaster. It will hurt the UK economy but not catastrophically. After all, tariffs under the WTO rules are quite low. And these are almost certainly the tariffs that the UK faces. Unless it agrees to do a deal with the EU like Norway and Switzerland have done.

[Donutz]

The EU is all about finding concensus, the EU moves slow, all member states sit on the tabe and have debate after debate.  The end result being a water downed proposal that nobody is entirely happy about neither extremely displeased about. Well atleast the member states themselves are not too upset, the citizens sometimes are as they will feel powerless, that those in power do not respect the wishes of the people. 

 

CETA and TTIP are also the result of long negotiations, overall they may not be too bad and be the least worst compromise for the various parties involved (the common folk, big business, national governments etc.). Knowing this, the tasteless cookies that come out of the EU oven are fine by me. But CETA and TTIP have a giant turd served ontop: the special courts... not even worth of being called a court, no, the special backroom dealiing incase a company feels wronged by a country.  That whole system is unacceptable, if a country wants to sue for allegded wrongdoings it should do so in a regular (international) court.  Though I am also not too happy about the bits that seem to dictate that if some public service is privatised (a bad thing if it comes to the powergrid, watergrid etc. IMHO) that rolling that back apparantly is not allowed or that companies could atleast make it very difficult for a government to nationalize a service once again?

 

I'm glad that the Walloons keep CETA from being signed, atleast untill the whole shady private court behind closed doors thing is removed from the treaty. I don't think the Walloons are blocking it for the right reasons though, they are notarious for wishing to get as many freebies as they can without giving much or anything in return. Belgium has two gas nets, one network is supplied with Dutch gas, but our Dutch government decided to stop suppling gas to Belgium per 2030. Now various machines needs to be adapted, replaced etc.  but Wallonia made it clear they do not want to pitch in on those costs. Rather selfish if you ask me, especially if Flanders has been a net contriutor for decades.   We see the same in the EU, net receivers are rather reluctant to slowely give that up. France seems to receive a rather high budget from the EU for it's farmers and not too keen on slowely reducing that, wishing to keep things as they are even though the world around them changes day by day. And take the refugee issue, the eastern members aren't too keen on chipping in there but they glady hold out their hand for benefits... SO much for true solidarity, the common good of all of Europe and all or atleast most of it's citizens.  /ranting

 

TLDR: good that Flanders stopped CETA for now, I hope that largest flaws in there such as the special courts will be removed. No problems if CETA ends up being a fair treat treaty that overall benefits both the avarage Canadian and European consumer. 

[Prbkk]

9 hours ago, Anthony5 said:

 

This has nothing to do with the EU, it's about the Wallonia leechers which should have been separated from Belgium long time ago

 

9 hours ago, Anthony5 said:

 

This has nothing to do with the EU, it's about the Wallonia leechers which should have been separated from Belgium long time ago

Wasn't Wallonia the original choice for EU headquarters, 50 plus years ago? But internal politics made it impossible. IIRC there was something just short of a civil war going on in the 50s

[Anthony5]

18 minutes ago, Prbkk said:

 

Wasn't Wallonia the original choice for EU headquarters, 50 plus years ago? But internal politics made it impossible. IIRC there was something just short of a civil war going on in the 50s

 

 

Wallonia contributes nothing to the country, since it is mostly agriculture and some heavy industry, but they receive the largest part of the subsidies and government income.

 

The population is even more laid back than the South of France. Don't tell me about, i have done business with Wallonia.

 

If you read up about the large corruption scandals in Belgium some 30 -40 years ago e.g. Agusta helicopters etc. they were all Walloon politicians

Edited October 22, 2016 by Anthony5

[Donutz]

This is why I'm glad the Walloons are giving the middle finger even though for what I see as wrong reasons (seems to mainly because of the farmers rather then the ISDS garbage in it and the risk of lowering of standards to the lowest donominator which mostly will profit the cooperations and not the people).

[MJP]

It got over shadowed by the Brexit vote, but Switzerland pulled its longstanding application to join the EU a couple of weeks beforehand stating in the Swiss Parliament "only a few lunatics would join the EU now".

 

https://www.rt.com/news/346884-switzerland-eu-membership-application-rejected/