"The summit may be put off due to Wallonia's position," the source said.
On October 14, the Belgian regional parliament of Wallonia passed a resolution against CETA, putting the signing of the deal at risk. The decision followed the Wallonia-Brussels Federation’s approval of a similar resolution. According to the parliamentarians, CETA only represents the interests of multinational companies, seeking for deregulation and easing of regulatory measures in Europe. Though, the Belgian authorities argued that the agreement was beneficial to small and medium businesses.
The adoption of the trade pact requires unanimous agreement of all 28 EU member states and ratification by 40 EU national and regional parliaments. The Belgian government has no legal authority to sign the deal without the consent of the Wallonia’s authorities, which means the deal could be postponed for indefinite time.
The EU trade ministers were expected to initial the deal earlier on Tuesday by giving to European Council President Donald Tusk a mandate for the signing of trade agreement.
CETA, which was negotiated between 2008 and 2014, is expected to become Canada's biggest bilateral initiative after the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico and the United States.
If signed, CETA will eliminate almost all tariffs between Canada and the European Union and increase the volume of bilateral trade by 25.7 billion euros (28.3 billion dollars). Multiple anti-CETA protests had been held across Europe, as people considered that the deal would loosen EU standards dealing with environment, health and food safety.
