The issue of EU unity is again at risk
Due to the veto of Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium with a population of three million, which, according to European law, has the right to have its say in the international politics of the EU, the conclusion of a free trade agreement with Canada was disrupted, which once again jeopardized the issue of European unity. says New York Times.
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“Europe will face a new and profound crisis if the Canada deal collapses,” said John Clancy, a former European Commission trade representative.
“It is especially alarming that Europe is being brought to its knees by Belgium, one of the founders of the European project,” he added.
“Forty-five-year-old Pavel Magnette, Prime Minister of Wallonia, seems determined to show that he can squeeze concessions out of the entire European Union and from Canada... Magnette also serves as mayor of Charleroi. The city opposed the general EU policy of deindustrializing enclaves,” the newspaper writes.
“Apparently, they prefer to export weapons to Saudi Arabia rather than apples and pears to Canada,” noted Geert Bourgeois, Prime Minister of the second, Flemish part of Belgium, in parliament.
He apparently means report of the Walloon Parliament, showing that the region exported weapons last year to the tune of one and a half billion euros.
“The EU is becoming more and more ungovernable,” said political scientist Mark Leonard.
The next attempt to sign a free trade agreement between the EU and Canada is expected at the end of October.
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Now the editors are aware.