A report in the Globe and Mail notes that Canada-EU trade talks have been bogged down in bureaucratic imbroglios that threated to scuttle the deal just as the EU turns its attention to larger trade talks with the US:
“The EU side seems increasingly incapable of getting its act together to close a deal,” one Canadian source said. “The various competing directorates within the EU are fighting each other, which is leading to erratic moves such as backing away from earlier commitments – actions that are on the verge of bad faith. The EU has to demonstrate it’s serious about cutting a deal.”
Officials with the EU delegation in Ottawa were not immediately available to comment.
Friction in negotiations comes as a bigger trade fish looms for the European Union: the United States. Leaders of both countries at the G8 meetings in Northern Ireland Monday said they plan to start EU-U.S. trade agreement talks next month – a development that threatens to overshadow Canada’s negotiations with Brussels.
