The EU-Canada Agreement unblocked
The prime minister of Belgium, Charles Michel, announced that the leaders of the Belgian regions on Thursday reached an agreement on the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
România Internațional, 28.10.2016, 13:48
The Belgian PM Charles Michel announced Thursday that the leaders of the Belgian regions reached a common stand on CETA. Any agreement concluded in Belgium has to be approved by all the other 27 EU members before being signed. The document, whose signing was scheduled for Thursday in Brussels, was blocked by the Wallonian government, which was opposed to the signing of CETA in its initial form.
The Walloons were not content with several provisions of the treaty, mainly those related to the arbitration of commercial disputes between companies and governments, and also with the consequences of the respective agreement on agriculture, which was of key importance for this region. Romania alongside neighboring Bulgaria, the only EU members whose citizens still need visas to travel to Canada, also conditioned the signing of the agreement on the visa waiver for their citizens. Ottawa agreed with lifting visas for the Romanian citizens gradually, as of next year, on condition CETA was signed.
After Thursday’s announcement in Belgium, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis expressed optimism as to the signing of the agreement, which is important for Romania: “Things have started to move and we can be optimistic about the signing of CETA which for Romania has a special significance related to the visa waiver for its citizens. If CETA is signed, the Romanian citizens will be able to travel to Canada without visas quite soon.”
The document will be sent to the Canadian authorities, which have to give their opinion on the revised version of CETA before it is signed. Previously, the Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau, had said that, despite the postponement of his visit to Brussels on Thursday, Ottawa remained willing to sign this important agreement when Europe was ready. We recall that the negotiations between the EU and Canada on CETA have lasted for more than 7 years. CETA is considered by experts as one of the most important trade agreements of the world.
In another development, the daily Financial Times wrote that the delayed signing of CETA raised questions about the EU’s capacity to conclude complex agreements that need the approval of all parliaments in the community bloc and that the European leaders hoped the successful signing of CETA would prepare the ground for a more comprehensive trade agreement with the US. (translation by L Simion)
