THE drab Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, where the European Union’s heads of government meet for their regular summits, is no stranger to drama, from 5am agreements on Greek debt to blazing rows over refugees. But on October 20th-21st, as the 28 leaders chewed over the finer points of EU migration and foreign policy, the real action was unfolding 40 miles away in Namur, capital of Belgium’s French-speaking Walloon region. Beneath the image of a strutting cockerel that looms over their parliamentary chamber, Wallonia’s deputies debated the latest attempt by Europe’s leaders to draw up a protocol to CETA, an EU-Canada trade and investment deal, that would satisfy their objections to some of its provisions. Under Belgium’s baroque constitutional arrangements all five regional parliaments must provide their assent for the federal government, which supports CETA, to give its backing.
But the Walloons would not be moved. (The sticking point appears to be a provision in the deal to provide legal protections for investors.) After flying in for emergency talks Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s trade minister, left Namur this afternoon in...Continue reading
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