ABSTRACT

When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper undertook his first official visit to Europe in June 2007, the global economy was supposedly in good shape. The fiasco of the New Economy had passed, and economic growth had returned to almost all corners of the world. The initial climb of the euro exchange rate vis-à-vis the US dollar was widely seen as a sign of international investors' trust in the common currency, and in the promised widening and deepening of European integration in general. Given the stalemate of the Doha round on global trade negotiations, politicians in Canada and Europe saw the opportunity to politically lock-in the promising developments by ‘fast-tracking’ negotiations on a far-reaching economic agreement. Already in late 2006, the German government, which would hold the rotating presidency of the EU starting in 2007, signaled that it would be interested in supporting efforts for closer economic cooperation with its North American partners. Ironically, at this point in time the positive response did not come from the federal government in Ottawa but from Quebec Premier Jean Charest, who established himself as the strongest proponent for closer economic and political ties with Europe. The project of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was born. After four years, many draft versions, and four rounds of intense negotiations, both sides are still signaling their willingness to reach a positive conclusion. Such an agreement between two G8 economies would be a first, thus indicating the direction that global political–economic relationships may move in the next couple of years.