NAMUR, Belgium (Reuters) — The Belgian fortress city of Namur, besieged by European armies down the centuries, issued a declaration of war on the global economic order today with a vote to reject a planned European Union-Canada free trade agreement.
The parliament of the region of Wallonia voted in the regional capital of Namur after a similar decision by the parliament of French speakers in Brussels earlier in the week, results which risk killing the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
And yet the deal is supported by Ottawa and all 28 EU members, including Belgium’s.
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Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel’s government was racing to find a solution, although officials stressed that it was the local governments rather than parliaments that would have the final say.
A number of regions, including the tiny 76,000-strong German-speaking community, had not responded.
France also stepped up its pressure on its small francophone northern neighbour by inviting Wallonia premier Paul Magnette to talks in Paris with his fellow Socialist, French President Francois Hollande.
By contrast, Austria ended weeks of wavering, its chancellor saying his country would not stand in the way of a deal.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he knew it was going to require hard work right to the very end.
“But I’m confident that there are so many strong European countries, like France … Germany is fully on board, and others, that this deal is going to make it through,” he said.
EU trade ministers are to meet in Luxembourg Tuesday to vote on CETA and want unanimous backing for it ahead of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday, and a visit, if all goes well, by Trudeau a week later.
