Walloons now say yes, as Canada-Europe trade deal clears final votes

Belgium'sWalloons havereversed theirearlierdecision to block the Canada-EU free trade agreement.

All the Belgian legislatures previously opposed to signing the Canada-Europe trade deal votedto approve signing the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) Friday.

A signing ceremony is now set for Sunday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau scheduled to fly to Brussels on Saturday.

Donald Trusk, president of the European Council, confirmed the summit via Twitter.

The minister-president of the region, PaulMagnette, presented the amended version to the Walloon MPs on Friday morning, saying that the amendments guaranteed the "highest level" of standards in social, environmental or agricultural norms, "despite its flaws."

The first of two votes in Wallonia's capital, Namur,legislators voted58-5 in favour on Friday afternoon.

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A vote later Friday evening in the Wallonie-Bruxelleslegislature passed 50-12.

Bothreverse negative votes fromearlier this month.

"The amended and corrected CETA is more just than the old CETA. It offers more guarantees and it is what I will defend," Magnette told his parliament.

Thursday'sBelgian declarationaddresses fears held byCETAskepticsthat the deal'ssystem to protect foreign investors could strengthen multinationals. It also providesa safeguard clause for farmers.

"With this saga, which I must say made some noise, everybody in Europe knows the Walloon parliament exists," he said.

Of CETA'scontroversial new investor court system, Magnette said Wallonia has now made its ratificationconditional upon"the establishment of a genuine jurisdictionwhose establishment will be submitted to the European Court of Justice of the EU."

"This treaty must become our reference," he said. "We will no longer negotiate a treaty that does not respect this level of reference. And we can already draw the conclusion: TTIP (Europe's proposed agreement with the U.S.), with the improved CETA, is dead."

Once all the votes had finished, European Council President Donald Tusk was expected to contactTrudeauto reschedule a signing ceremony, perhaps as early as this weekend.

After that, the agreement proceeds to the European Parliament for a ratification vote.

• Graphic:What's in theCanada-EUtrade deal

Earlier Friday, German-speaking legislators, whohad expressed some doubts too, also voted in favour. The Flemish parliaments have been supportive all along.

Crafting the Canada-EU trade deal

8 years ago

Duration 2:00

A timeline of the key moments in CETA negotiations

In a joint statement Friday, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and European Trade Union Confederation(ETUC) said the difficulties in Belgium over the last couple of weeks were theresult of a negotiation process that was conducted in secrecy.

It condemned the pressure placed on Wallonian institutions.

"We believe that this situation could have been avoided if the negotiating parties had consulted trade unions and civil society in a serious way and made negotiations more transparent right from the beginning," it said.

Ajoint interpretative declarationcame "too late and in a very limited time frame to be discussed properly," it said.

CETA on track

8 years ago

Duration 4:10

Mark Warner, principal at MAAW Law, on where things go next for the Canada-Europe trade deal