A landmark free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada could be signed within days after the Belgian government overcame an impasse with its regional authorities on Thursday.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said his government had reached a deal with the holdout region of Wallonia. The region held a veto over the country’s ability to back the trans-Atlantic agreement. And the EU, in turn, needed unanimity among all its members.
The deal will go through regional legislatures by Friday night and have to be vetted again by the other 27 EU states.
That means it’s effectively impossible to sign the deal in Brussels with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday, as had been scheduled for weeks.
Still, even getting an agreement was a huge relief for EU leaders, who had started negotiating the pact with Canada seven years ago and were embarrassed by the last-minute stumble.
“This is good news,” said Michel, adding that the new text of the deal provides guarantees for farmers and on a corporate dispute settlement system that “will allow us to sign the deal.”
EU President Donald Tusk said he would contact Trudeau “only once all procedures are finalized for EU signing CETA,” as the trade deal is called.
Alex lawrence, the spokesman for Canada’s trade ministry, earlier said that the country was prepared to sign the deal whenever Europe is ready. And Trudeau had told Parliament he’s prepared to wait.