Latest: Belgium reaches agreement on EU-Canada free trade deal
The Belgian government has reached an agreement to back the free trade deal between the European Union and Canada.
The move comes on the day the agreement was supposed to be officially signed with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel was able to announce the agreement following days of negotiations with the region of Wallonia.
The region has veto power in Belgium and the broader EU needs unanimity among its 28 member states.
The deal will go through regional legislatures by tomorrow night.
Mr Trudeau has been due to travel to Brussels today to sign the deal, but those plans were effectively scrapped as the negotiations with Wallonia dragged on.
Still, getting the agreement was a huge relief to EU leaders, who had started negotiating the pact with Canada seven years ago.
"This is good news," said Mr 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 Mr Trudeau "only once all procedures are finalised for EU signing CETA", as the trade deal is called.
Alex Lawrence, the spokesman for Canada's trade minister, said hours before that the country was prepared to sign the deal whenever Europe is ready.
Mr Trudeau earlier told Parliament he is prepared to wait longer.
"We are confident that in the coming days we will see a positive outcome for this historic deal," Mr Trudeau told Parliament.
Beyond the Belgian regional parliaments backing the agreement, the adjustments would have to be vetted by the 27 other nations.
That makes a signing ceremony today impossible.
Politicians in Wallonia, which has a population of 3.6 million compared with over 500 million for the whole EU, argue that the proposed accord would undermine labour, environment and consumer standards.
Proponents say it would yield billions in added trade through customs and tariff cuts and other measures to lower barriers to commerce.
At the same time, the EU says it will keep in place the region's strong safeguards on social, environmental and labour issues.
He said Wallonia's insistence on a better deal would bolster EU standards and set a strong precedent for other trade talks between Europe and trading partners like the United States or Japan.
A summit between the European Union and Canada to sign a landmark free trade deal has been postponed as talks continue on convincing a Belgian region to lift its veto.
The EU presidency said that "the EU-Canada summit will not start today as planned".
It left it open as to whether it would happen at all today, though it appeared highly unlikely.
EU spokesman Preben Aamann said there is "no speculation on a new summit time. The next step is for the EU to agree to sign".
The 28-nation EU can only sign the agreement if it has unanimity among its 28 member states and Belgium can only approve it if all its regions back it.
The francophone region of Wallonia has for days refused to back the agreement.
Wallonia leader Paul Magnette said that his region would still not be able to approve the deal in the coming hours.
It and the Belgian government continued to fine tune the wording of the agreement to address Wallonia's concerns, including the impact on farming and corporate dispute settlements.
Because Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would have to fly to Brussels for the summit, the prospect of signing the deal on today becomes more unlikely by the hour.
The summit is likely to only be postponed since the differences between Wallonia and the national Belgian government, which wants to sign the agreement, are narrowing.
But the situation is an embarrassment for the EU, which started negotiating the free trade deal with Canada seven years ago.
"Now we have some legal consolidation to discuss," said Paul Magnette, leader of Wallonia.
He said it was difficult to say how long it might take to reach a deal.
Alex Lawrence, the spokesman for Canada's trade minister, said the country is prepared to sign the deal whenever Europe is ready.
Mr Trudeau earlier told Parliament he's prepared to wait longer.
"We are confident that in the coming days we will see a positive outcome for this historic deal," Mr Trudeau told Parliament.
If the Belgian regional leaders find an agreement on the deal, the adjustments would have to be vetted by the 27 other nations and then still have to go back to the regional Belgian legislatures for approval.
Politicians in Wallonia, which has a population of 3.6 million compared to over 500 million for the whole EU, argue that the proposed accord would undermine labour, environment and consumer standards.
Proponents say it would yield billions in added trade through customs and tariff cuts and other measures to lower barriers to commerce.
At the same time, the EU says it will keep in place the region's strong safeguards on social, environmental and labour issues.
He said Wallonia's insistence on a better deal would bolster EU standards and set a strong precedent for other trade talks between Europe and trading partners like the United States or Japan.
