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CETA Canada-EU Deal: 'The Credibility of Europe is at Stake' - Ex-Quebec Premier

© REUTERS / Francois LenoirDemonstrators protest against CETA outside the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, October 20, 2016.
Demonstrators protest against CETA outside the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, October 20, 2016. - Sputnik International
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The former Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec, Jean Charest, who played a formative role in brokering the EU-Canadian CETA trade deal as said "the credibility of Europe is at stake" as officials in Brussels struggle to get it back on track after being derailed by Belgium.

Wallonia's socialist government head Paul Magnette (L) and European Parliament President Martin Schulz hold a joint press conference after their meeting regarding CETA (EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) at the European Parliament in Brussels on October 22, 2016 - Sputnik International
CETA: EU-Canada Trade Deal on the Rocks as Wallonia Rejects Brussels' Ultimatum
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is an EU-Canada trade treaty and was set for ratification by all 28 EU member states, each of whom has to agree the terms of the offer EU firms more and better business opportunities in Canada and support jobs in Europe.

However, the signing ceremony scheduled for October 27 — with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau due to fly to Brussels for it — is looking in doubt after Belgium failed to gain the support of two of its regional parliaments: Wallonia and Brussels-Capital. In Belgium, it is not just the federal government that can ratify EU decisions — all five regional parliaments have to as well. 

Charest told the Canadian National Post newspaper:

"In the next few weeks, I think we're just going to have to let things cool down. The harder we push, now, it'll just entrench the Walloons in their position. You get to the point in that dynamic where then it becomes a point of pride, their opposition becomes a point of pride."

Meanwhile, the President of the Walloon parliament, which — unlike the Brussels Capital parliament which is opposing CETA — has formally voted against the deal, told RTL radio his parliament would not yield to the pressure being exerted on it from Brussels, saying:

"It will not be possible for us to keep to the ultimatum."

The impasse forced Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel, to admit that his country is "not in a position to sign CETA," putting the whole deal at risk, as all 28 member states' parliaments have to approve the final agreement.

Flawed System

The deadlock over CETA is threatening to put at risk three other trade negotiations: the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US; the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) between 23 members of the World Trade Organization and the EU; and the future Brexit negotiations on a new trade agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom.

© Sputnik / Igor Zarembo / Go to the mediabankProtest rally against Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in Berlin
Protest rally against Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in Berlin - Sputnik International
Protest rally against Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in Berlin

The fact that the EU — as a whole — cannot reach agreement over the CETA trade deal that has been eight years in gestation exemplifies the flaws in the Brussels system. Under the Lisbon Treaty, signed by all EU member states and which came into force in 2009, CETA is treated as a "mixed" trade agreement, which — crucially — requires the unanimous backing of all 28 member states.

​If one state rejects it — as Belgium has, so far, done — the whole deal is off, throwing TTIP, TiSA, Brexit and any other trade deal with Europe into doubt. Despite this, European Council President Donald Tusk remains supremely — if misguidedly — confident the CETA deal will still be signed, October 27.

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