The European Union has always been good at hammering out 11th-hour compromises, but this week’s wrangling over its free trade deal with Canada, blocked by a region of 3.6mn people, raised questions over the bloc’s ability to face the world united.
Belgium finally managed to win over its province of Wallonia, but not until after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had to cancel his planned trip to Brussels on Thursday to sign the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker described the debacle as a “diplomatic absurdity”, in comments to Germany’s ARD public broadcaster on Thursday. “I am not of the opinion that we presented an example of golden statesmanship,” he added wryly.
Others were harsher in their assessment.
“The Walloon precedent shows that the EU is not in a position to carry out its core competences,” the Cologne Institute for Economic Research wrote in a newsletter. Trade issues should be an exclusive EU responsibility, with member states just giving an overall steer.
CETA was supposed to be a straightforward deal, with a country that European Council President Donald Tusk described as “the most European country outside Europe”.
Many now fear the implications for the bigger, and more controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) being sought with the United States, as well as negotiations with countries including Japan.
Proponents of these accords argue that they would boost economic growth and create jobs, while giving the EU a say as the rules of global trade are being redrawn.
But many, especially among the poorer working classes, fear a world in which corporations are extending their clout at the expense of citizens, workers and consumers.
It is a concern manifested also in the British vote to leave the European Union and the popularity of Donald Trump, the United States’ outspoken Republican presidential nominee, analysts argue.
In both cases, strong support has come from white, working-class regions where unemployment is high – areas not dissimilar to much of Wallonia, where the economy has been hollowed out by a decline in heavy industry.
Some argue that the concessions won by Wallonia – which include a demand that the EU’s top court check the legality of a system to settle disputes between firms and governments – represent more of a symbolic victory, without changing the substance of CETA.
The timing of the breakthrough – which came just too late to save Thursday’s EU-Canada summit – plays into that narrative.
Even if the Walloons appear to have grabbed the maximum attention for their cause, others see the CETA tribulations as a wake-up call for European elites that have become too disconnected from the demands of their citizens.