As EUROPE went to press on Tuesday 25 October, intense negotiations were continuing between the federal government and federal bodies in Belgium to enable the veto to be lifted that three federal bodies have issued – the Walloon region, the region of Brussels-Capital and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation – on Belgium’s approval of the signing of a free-trade deal (CETA) between the EU and Canada, which the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, hoped to be signed at an EU-Canada summit in Brussels on 27 October.
A close Council source told EUROPE early Tuesday evening that it could not be confirmed whether the summit would take place on Thursday.
The decision about the summit was hanging on new talks in the middle of the afternoon, beginning at 4.00pm, between the Belgian foreign minister, Didier Reynders, and a team of diplomatic advisers to the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, and the leaders of all Belgium’s federal bodies.
Before the meeting, Reynders explained that the meeting followed on from contacts that morning, where a document that needs to be consolidated was drawn up. He said the aim was to work to see what requests there are and how they can be answered and he hoped they would finish very quickly.
The minister-president of the Walloon region, Paul Magnette, said he had come to negotiate in good faith and had always said that he was not against an agreement with Canada, but did not want private arbitration either now or in the future. He said conflicts between multinationals and countries had to be decided upon by public courts defending the public interest, the environment, social security and public sectors. He warned that they had already received three ultimatums and would not put up with receiving a fourth – otherwise they would end the negotiations. He said they must not be asked to bypass parliamentary procedures.
The Commission is continuing to keep a close eye on the process. A spokesperson for the institution, Alexander Winterstein, said at midday on Tuesday that the European Commission is continuing to work to bring about a positive state in the talks that will allow the EU to sign the agreement with Canada. He said Belgium was still drawing up its position using pertinent institutional procedures under its constitutional order, and the Commission respected that. He added that what was needed now was patience and that the Commission did not work with ultimatums and deadlines. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)