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BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and Canada are on the cusp of sealing a landmark free trade deal after the Belgian government on Thursday overcame an impasse with its regional authorities, which had been seeking more protections from multinationals.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said he had finally reached a deal with holdout Wallonia, a region of 3.6 million people that had used its power to block the deal between over 500 million EU citizens and 35 million Canadians for several weeks.
The EU needed unanimity among all its 28 members and Belgium needed the backing of all its regions.
"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."
The agreement will go through regional legislatures by Friday night and has to be vetted again by the other 27 EU states.
It made it impossible to sign the deal in Brussels with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday, as had been scheduled for weeks.
Still, 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. EU President Donald Tusk said he would contact Trudeau to set up a new time for a summit "only once all procedures are finalized."
It would most likely rule out a summit before next week at the earliest.
"This is a positive development, but there is still work to do," said Alex Lawrence, a spokesman for the Canadian international trade ministry, of Belgium's agreement. "Canada remains ready to sign this important agreement when Europe is ready."
Politicians in Wallonia argued that the proposed accord would have undermined labor, environment and consumer standards.
Giving a voice to millions of Europeans who oppose the deal for myriad reasons, Wallonia President Paul Magnette said his resistance yielded big results.
"We always fought for treaties that reinforced the social and environmental standards, protect the public services and that there is no private arbitration" in dispute settlements, he said. "All this is achieved as of now."
"I am sorry for all the other Europeans we made wait and for our Canadian partners. But if we took a bit of time, what we achieved here is important, not only for Wallonia but for all Europeans," Magnette said.
Campaigners who had been critical of the trade deal were delighted with the concessions Magnette obtained.
One concession was to have the European Court of Justice rule on the legality of a mechanism to settle disputes between multinationals and governments. Some activists are worried that companies could get undue power in challenging states legally.
Laurens Ankersmit, EU trade lawyer for ClientEarth, said he was "absolutely thrilled" that the court will get the opportunity to rule on this settlement.
Paul de Clerck, economic justice coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe, said that Thursday "could be a good day for democracy."
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 labor issues.
Magnette said Wallonia's insistence on a better deal would set a precedent for other trade talks between Europe and trading partners like the United States or Japan.
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