Canada Walks Out Trade Talks Founder

Canada Walks Out as EU Trade Talks Founder

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSOCT. 21, 2016, 12:22 P.M. E.D.T.
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BRUSSELS — 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.

Belgium is a waste of Space : that Country will bring down Europe !

Wallonia ?  really, now  >