Conquer Club

The regional legislature of Wallonia has vetoed a Canada-EU trade deal that's been negotiated over the last seven years meaning Belgium can't sign it, meaning the EU can't sign it.

This would be like the El Paso city council blocking the U.S. from signing a treaty.

An emotional Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland left the talks in Brussels, saying the EU was "not capable" of signing a trade agreement.

Belgium, the only country blocking accord, needed consent from the regional parliament of Wallonia.

The wide-ranging deal, seven years in the making, was to be signed next week.

Speaking outside the seat of the Walloon government, Ms Freeland told reporters: "It seems evident for me and for Canada that the European Union is not now capable of having an international accord."

One very obvious lesson from this impasse is that it is going to be difficult for the European Union to implement trade and investment deals, perhaps with anyone.

On the other hand, negotiating an agreement with other countries outside the EU should become easier. To put it bluntly, the British government won't need to care what the Walloon parliament thinks.

THIS IS CANADA:



THIS IS THE EU:

Sometimes I think the UK could have done much worse things than leave the EU.

It doesn't matter. The trade agreement wasn't going to deal with the only issue DY cares about - 300% tariff on European cheeses.

That's because Canada's equivalent of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce (the Dairy industry) won't let it be a part of international trade agreements. There are specific clauses blocking dairy in NAFTA and the TPP.

Kill a Canadian dairy farmer - save a life.

Am I the only one who thinks it's nuts that the Big 3 contraband in Canada are guns, drugs and cheese? One of these is not like the other.

This is completely ridiculous. The wallonian socialists are just opposing the deal to steal away some votes from the wallonian communists. They're putting their own party politics before the interests of the continent.

DoomYoshi wrote:It doesn't matter. The trade agreement wasn't going to deal with the only issue DY cares about - 300% tariff on European cheeses.

That's because Canada's equivalent of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce (the Dairy industry) won't let it be a part of international trade agreements. There are specific clauses blocking dairy in NAFTA and the TPP.

Kill a Canadian dairy farmer - save a life.

Am I the only one who thinks it's nuts that the Big 3 contraband in Canada are guns, drugs and cheese? One of these is not like the other.

Drugs and cheese are consumables. Guns are durables. Do I win a prize?

DoomYoshi wrote:It doesn't matter. The trade agreement wasn't going to deal with the only issue DY cares about - 300% tariff on European cheeses.

That's because Canada's equivalent of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce (the Dairy industry) won't let it be a part of international trade agreements. There are specific clauses blocking dairy in NAFTA and the TPP.

Kill a Canadian dairy farmer - save a life.

Am I the only one who thinks it's nuts that the Big 3 contraband in Canada are guns, drugs and cheese? One of these is not like the other.

Yeah your right, they should legalize drugs.

Actually, its a trick question. All 3 can be hidden in a vagina.

DoomYoshi wrote:Actually, its a trick question. All 3 can be hidden in a vagina.

So Canada specializes in vagina-size products?

Treaty isn't dead. They are continuing to negotiate. They have until the 27th to come to an agreement.

waauw wrote:

DoomYoshi wrote:Actually, its a trick question. All 3 can be hidden in a vagina.

So Canada specializes in vagina-size products?

your vagina specializes in Canada-sized insertions

notyou2 wrote:Treaty isn't dead. They are continuing to negotiate. They have until the 27th to come to an agreement.

The 27th isn't a deadline, that's just the day they'd planned their big signing party for. No doubt the EU will be tossing in the breeze desperately pleading with Wallonia well into November.

They should just get rid of national veto-rights and go over to majority votes in issues like this.

Yeah. If only the EU was capable of overriding the concerns of Member States more easily, then things like Brexit would never have happened.

The constant need to make trade offs between the collective good and competing national interests is why the EU in its current form is untenable. It acts in a state of semi-paralysis because each and every minority interest is capable of blocking it from doing anything meaningful (Ceta, EU army, fiscal union of Euro states, etc.). However, as a 'club of nations' it has to act in this way, because if it starts overriding the concerns of Member States then national citizens will feel dominated and opt to leave.

The EU either needs to federalize into something similar to the US and become a European state with one European identity, or scoop out all the legislation and go back to being little more than the free trade agreement it was originally billed as. If it continues in its current form, it's just going to get more and more irrelevant on the world stage.

waauw wrote:They should just get rid of national veto-rights and go over to majority votes in issues like this.

They should, right before they pass the "Let's SCREW Belgium treaty."

tzor wrote:

waauw wrote:They should just get rid of national veto-rights and go over to majority votes in issues like this.

They should, right before they pass the "Let's SCREW Belgium treaty."

*"Let's SCREW Wallonia treaty."
Right wing Flanders voted Pro. Only socialist/communist Wallonia contra.

waauw wrote:

tzor wrote:

waauw wrote:They should just get rid of national veto-rights and go over to majority votes in issues like this.

They should, right before they pass the "Let's SCREW Belgium treaty."

*"Let's SCREW Wallonia treaty."
Right wing Flanders voted Pro. Only socialist/communist Wallonia contra.

The competition for the title of "Poor-man's France" will always divide Belgium and Canada. The Poutine vs Frites divide, is, I think, unbridgeable. Gravy and mayonnaise? Non!

Symmetry wrote:The competition for the title of "Rich-man's France" will always divide Belgium and Canada. The Poutine vs Frites divide, is, I think, unbridgeable. Gravy and mayonnaise? Non!

Let me fix that for you.

waauw wrote:

Symmetry wrote:The competition for the title of "Rich-man's France" will always divide Belgium and Canada. The Poutine vs Frites divide, is, I think, unbridgeable. Gravy and mayonnaise? Non!

Let me fix that for you.

Even your praise is a second-hand knock-off version. That should tell you something.

Symmetry wrote:

waauw wrote:

Symmetry wrote:The competition for the title of "Rich-man's France" will always divide Belgium and Canada. The Poutine vs Frites divide, is, I think, unbridgeable. Gravy and mayonnaise? Non!

Let me fix that for you.

Even your praise is a second-hand knock-off version. That should tell you something.

I think you underestimate how good my fellow-countrymen have been at piggy-backing british and west-german industrialization for the past 150 years. There is a reason why Belgium is the UK's 2nd largest european trading partner(after Ireland), and why the port of Antwerp keeps shipping such large amounts to and fro German Rhineland.

waauw wrote:

Symmetry wrote:

waauw wrote:

Symmetry wrote:The competition for the title of "Rich-man's France" will always divide Belgium and Canada. The Poutine vs Frites divide, is, I think, unbridgeable. Gravy and mayonnaise? Non!

Let me fix that for you.

Even your praise is a second-hand knock-off version. That should tell you something.

I think you underestimate how good my fellow-countrymen have been at piggy-backing british and west-german industrialization for the past 150 years. There is a reason why Belgium is the UK's 2nd largest european trading partner(after Ireland), and why the port of Antwerp keeps shipping such large amounts to and fro German Rhineland.

You can't keep relying on the popularity of Hercule Poirot forever. The BBC recently, and very publically, broadcast his death.

Symmetry wrote:

waauw wrote:

Symmetry wrote:

waauw wrote:

Symmetry wrote:The competition for the title of "Rich-man's France" will always divide Belgium and Canada. The Poutine vs Frites divide, is, I think, unbridgeable. Gravy and mayonnaise? Non!

Let me fix that for you.

Even your praise is a second-hand knock-off version. That should tell you something.

I think you underestimate how good my fellow-countrymen have been at piggy-backing british and west-german industrialization for the past 150 years. There is a reason why Belgium is the UK's 2nd largest european trading partner(after Ireland), and why the port of Antwerp keeps shipping such large amounts to and fro German Rhineland.

You can't keep relying on the popularity of Hercule Poirot forever. The BBC recently, and very publically, broadcast his death.

No worries. We still have Tintin and the Smurfs.

waauw wrote:

Symmetry wrote:

waauw wrote:

Symmetry wrote:

waauw wrote:

Symmetry wrote:The competition for the title of "Rich-man's France" will always divide Belgium and Canada. The Poutine vs Frites divide, is, I think, unbridgeable. Gravy and mayonnaise? Non!

Let me fix that for you.

Even your praise is a second-hand knock-off version. That should tell you something.

I think you underestimate how good my fellow-countrymen have been at piggy-backing british and west-german industrialization for the past 150 years. There is a reason why Belgium is the UK's 2nd largest european trading partner(after Ireland), and why the port of Antwerp keeps shipping such large amounts to and fro German Rhineland.

You can't keep relying on the popularity of Hercule Poirot forever. The BBC recently, and very publically, broadcast his death.

No worries. We still have Tintin and the Smurfs.

The Smurfs are Belgian? You have rocked my world.