Walloon parliament keeps Flanders and Europe hostage

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the new free trade agreement between Europe and Canada has gained an unexpected community dimension: Wallonia is no longer prepared to allow the Belgian government to simply sign the free trade agreement.  The N-VA sees this as a massive blunder. In a time of economic challenges this is no more and no less than an expression of masochism.

The new free trade agreement with Canada is tremendously important for Flanders as well as Wallonia. This agreement means customs duties disappear and fees for agriculture and pharmaceutical companies are done away with. But while the Flemish Government welcomes the agreement with open arms due to the numerous opportunities that it brings the Flemish export-focused economy, the Walloon Government decided - contrary to previous agreements - that Belgium must demand additional guarantees at the European level.

Culture clash

For the N-VA, this clearly concerns a clash of different political and economic cultures: Flanders is progressive and embraces the benefits offered by the agreement, but is blocked by leftist parties in Wallonia. But not only Flanders is wounded by this lack of consensus, as Belgium will have to abstain and lose face in Europe as well. What’s worse is that by Belgium’s abstention the CETA agreement would not take effect in its current form. The entire agreement between Europe and Canada is, in other words, at peril. The leftist parties in Wallonia have not just taken prosperity and jobs hostage, they have taken Flanders and Europe hostage too. The N-VA hopes that discussion within Belgium can still offer a glimmer of hope. The final ratification is planned for 2017. Hopefully, reasonableness and proportionality will have returned by then.