An announcement Thursday by Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel of a compromise on the free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada revived hopes that ratification of the deal will go through. The bloc's final approval of the deal was derailed by the regional parliament in Wallonia, which objected to some of its provisions. Though the agreement with the reluctant region may have saved the EU-Canada deal, the drama surrounding it in recent weeks highlights the contradictions that the European Union must face and raises questions about the bloc's ability to make coherent policy decisions. Besides the complexity inherent in negotiating wide-ranging trade deals, the process of developing the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was complicated by its ratification process. CETA is the most comprehensive free trade agreement that the European Union has ever negotiated.