Canada-EU Trade Deal: 'We Don't Want Any Future Talks to Be Conducted This Way'

In interview with Radio Sputnik, MEP Marie Arena of the Belgium's Socialist Party (PS) expressed regret that the Belgian region of Wallonia was the only one to voice its concerns over the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a major free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada.

"We don't want any future talks to be conducted this way since it only fuels doubts, causes misunderstanding and leads to the people justifiably not accepting them," she said.

The document was finalized in August 2014, but the French-speaking region in Belgium vetoed the deal over earlier this month concerns about labor, environmental and consumer standards. Belgian politicians sorted out their difference and a four-page addition was introduced to the agreement.

The politician expressed her regret that Wallonia was the only one to fight for its rights and ask for guarantees.

"We wish Wallonia would not have been alone in this fight," Arena, who served as Minister President of the French Community of Wallonia, said. "There are other left-wing governments in Europe. No a single government joined this movement."

The Belgian politician pointed out that the deal was concluded as a mixed agreement. In other words, CETA has to be ratified by the EU authorities and all member states.

"This is what I don't understand: France and Germany negotiated to turn the deal into a mixed agreement, but they did not demand what we requested in order to make the system better. I find this regrettable," she said.

CETA's arbitration scheme was one of the major points of contentions for Wallonia. The region wanted the new court system to be dropped altogether or guarantees that arbitrators will be 100-percent independent.

"There is certain permeability between business and the new courts," Arena observed. "We want guarantees that if these courts have to be introduced, there will be a full separation of arbitrators and business circles. This still has not been achieved!"

Earlier this week, Wallonia premier Paul Magnette expressed similar sentiments, saying that he would prefer the country to rely on its own courts and did not want the new arbitration mechanism to be introduced. "Or at the very least, if we want an arbitration court, it must provide equivalent guarantees to domestic ones," he added.

CETA is a free-trade deal meant to remove 98 percent of the tariffs between Canada and the European Union. It will be signed at a summit in Brussels on October 30.