Canada turned up the heat on the European Union Saturday, saying it was the bloc''s "job" to save a trade pact put in doubt by a Belgian region''s refusal to sign on. Chrystia Freeland, the Canadian trade minister, was firm after leaving last-ditch talks with European parliament head Martin Schulz to salvage the proposed accord that was seven years in the making.
"Now the ball is in Europe''s court and it''s time for Europe to finish doing its job," Freeland said, adding that she was returning to Toronto on Saturday but hoped to be able to come back on October 27 and sign the agreement. Brussels meanwhile scrambled to resolve the impasse as Schulz also had an 11th-hour huddle with Paul Magnette, head of the Wallonia region''s socialist government which is blocking the agreement between Ottawa and the 28-nation bloc.
Afterwards both sides admitted the sticking points are related to "problems within the European Union," said Schulz. "We still have some difficulties between Europeans," Magnette said while adding that "the discussions we have had together have been very useful." According to aides of the Walloon leader, Magnette was now waiting for a statement from the European Commission which precisely addresses the Belgian francophone region''s concerns about the trade deal.
The pact with Canada known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) would link the EU market of 500 million people with the world''s 10th biggest economy. The accord was initially scheduled to be signed next Thursday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Brussels - and Schulz said that date remained in the diary. Canada blasted the EU on Friday as "incapable of having an international agreement", as talks to persuade Wallonia broke down.
Freeland''s comments fed into warnings that the EU, beset by rising anti-globalisation sentiment, may never be able to land any other deals including one with the United States. The Walloon parliament earlier this week had refused to let the federal Belgian government approve the deal between Canada and the European Union, which needs to be backed by all 28 EU member states.
The CETA is opposed by anti-globalisation groups who say it is a test model to push through an even more controversial EU-US trade deal called TTIP, talks on which have also stalled. And Wallonia has some supporters around Europe. On Saturday, 8,000 people including young people, farmers, union leaders and entrepreneurs joined a rally in Amsterdam in a show of solidarity, organisers said. They held banners saying "Our world is not for sale" and "Stop these bad trade treaties." "The Walloons had a good, thorough debate and like all of us, decided that this (CETA) accord was still not good enough," Jurjen van den Bergh, an organiser from the TTIPAlarm coalition, said in a statement. "Through their resistance, we can continue to plead also in the Netherlands for trade that is truly honest and lasting," he said.
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