If the EU fails to approve a free-trade agreement with Canada, its trade policy will be “close to death,” in the view of the bloc’s director-general for trade, reported Politico. The outcome of the EU–Canada pact may foretell the future of the slow-moving negotiations for an EU–U.S. trade agreement that, though plagued by agricultural disputes, is expected to be the next major trade deal for the EU.
Politico said the trade official, Jean-Luc Demarty, raised the alarm at a confidential meeting of the EU trade policy committee ahead of the traditional August break. It was “a sign of growing concern in Brussels that the European Commission is losing control” of a sphere of authority “in the face of surging public opposition to free trade,” said Politico. The EC is the administrative arm of the EU and often takes the lead when nettlesome issues make it difficult for EU nations to take a stand.
In July, however, EU members decided that the Canadian trade pact would be submitted for ratification to the 38 national and regional parliaments of the EU, rather than being approved at the EU level. At the July 15 committee meeting, Demarty said EU trade policy would have a “big credibility problem” if the Canadian pact is not ratified, and would be “close to death,” said Politico, based on notes taken at the meeting and interviews with two diplomats.