Seizing the moment: Regional opportunity structures and Wallonia’s temporary veto of the EU–Canada bilateral trade agreement

IF 1.7 Q2 POLITICAL SCIENCE

Regional and Federal Studies Pub Date : 2021-11-24 DOI:10.1080/13597566.2021.2007477

P. Bursens, Dirk De Bièvre

引用次数: 9

Abstract

ABSTRACT Constitutionally, Belgium represents the most extreme case of regional entities wielding power over EU external trade policymaking. Formally, the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels regions can wield veto power over Belgian positions. Yet, only once has a Belgian region actually made use of this capacity, when Wallonia temporarily blocked the conclusion of the EU trade agreement with Canada in 2016 (CETA). We show that political actors – legislative and executive – could only activate this constitutional possibility in conjunction with other necessary conditions: a high degree of societal mobilization and, above all, inter-party competition across different levels of government. As the Walloon Parti Socialiste seized the moment, it reinforced the paradox of weakness and strengthened the EU’s trade bargaining power towards Canada. We finish by discussing the spill-over effects of the 2016 CETA episode into the shaping of future EU trade policies, as well as into future intra-Belgian EU policymaking.

查看原文本刊更多论文

抓住时机:区域机会结构和瓦隆尼亚对欧盟-加拿大双边贸易协定的临时否决权

摘要从宪法上讲，比利时代表了地区实体对欧盟对外贸易政策行使权力的最极端案例。从形式上讲，弗拉芒、瓦隆和布鲁塞尔地区可以对比利时的立场行使否决权。然而，只有一次比利时地区真正利用了这一能力，当时瓦隆尼亚在2016年暂时阻止了与加拿大达成欧盟贸易协议（CETA）。我们表明，政治行动者——立法者和行政者——只能在其他必要条件下激活这种宪法可能性：高度的社会动员，最重要的是，不同级别政府之间的党派间竞争。当瓦隆社会党抓住时机时，它强化了软弱的悖论，并加强了欧盟对加拿大的贸易议价能力。最后，我们讨论了2016年CETA事件对未来欧盟贸易政策的影响，以及对未来比利时欧盟内部政策制定的影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Regional and Federal Studies POLITICAL SCIENCE-

CiteScore

3.80

自引率

21.40%

发文量

期刊介绍： The upsurge of academic and political interest in regional and federal questions since the 1980s has been stimulated by the salience of regions in EU policy-making and the Structural Funds but also by regionalization and federalization processes in many Western states. The most striking example is the devolution occurring in the UK, but the process is at work all over Europe and in other parts of the world. These developments have led to many important research programmes and projects. Regional and Federal Studies is a refereed social science journal which provides an academic forum for the publication of international research on these issues. It is essential reading for both academics and practitioners in politics, administration and the business world.