EU-Canada stopped CETA in Belgium

Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau has cancelled a trip to Brussels, as Belgium failed on Wednesday to clear internal opposition to the EU-Canada free-trade pact (Ceta). "Canada remains ready to sign this important agreement when Europe is ready," Alex Lawrence, the spokesperson for Canada's International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, told German news agency DPA.

Ceta has been signed by 27 of 28 EU states, but Wallonia, the French-speaking region in Belgium, have refused to give the federal government permission to sign. Under the Belgian federal laws, every region has a right to reject the agreement. Opponents fear it would undermine standards and regulations on environmental protection, health, safety and workers' rights.

The agreement would link the EU economy with Canada's, a deal between two of the largest economies in the world. Didier Reynders, Belgium’s foreign affairs minister, avoided to call the situation a failure. ”We are waiting for a concrete answer from the entities, so we can present the Belgian position at a meeting of EU ambassadors tomorrow,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

According to Belgian public broadcaster RTBF, the Belgians agreed to a general safeguard clause, which would allow any regional entity within a federal structure like Belgium's to withdraw the country from Ceta.
"I still hope that Belgium will prove that it is a consensus-building champion and that we will be able to finalize this agreement soon," European Council President Donald Tusk told a session of the European Parliament.