Belgium will not sign Canada trade deal, PM tells EU

Hopes that Belgium would back a European Union trade deal with Canada appear to have been dashed, putting the agreement in jeopardy.

Belgian prime minister Charles Michel said he had told EC president Donald Tusk today that the country could not sign the deal because he had failed to get agreement from regional authorities, notably Wallonia.

The EU had given Belgium’s federal government until late on Monday to secure backing for a deal, or a summit to sign the CETA (Canada-EU Trade Agreement) agreement planned for Thursday would be cancelled.

But according to Reuters, Michel said to reporters after meeting regional leaders: “I have officially told Tusk that we have no agreement.”

He said he was still open to further talks with Wallonia and said it was too early to say whether Ceta, which has been in negotiations for several years, was dead.

But Tusk is now expected to contact Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and call off Thursday’s planned summit.

The omens had not looked good ahead of the meeting between Michel and the leaders of five regional authorities, with Wallonia’s premier Paul Magnette criticising the deadline placed on the deal.

“Every time you try to put an ultimatum it makes a calm debate and a democratic debate impossible,” he said. “We don’t need an ultimatum. We will not decide anything under an ultimatum or under pressure.”

Magnette says the deal is bad for Europe’s farmers and gives too much power to global corporate interests.