Spotlight: Belgium says no to EU trade deal with Canada

Belgium cannot sign a major free trade pact between the European Union (EU) and Canada due to strong opposition to the deal from its southern region of Wallonia, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said on Monday.

Michel held emergency talks with regional authorities of the country earlier on Monday, but later told a press conference that Belgium was not able to approve the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement(CETA).

"After the talks we established that the Wallonia and Brussels governments, as well as authorities from the Francophone communities, had said no. Therefore we are not able to sign CETA," the prime minister said.

Local media reported that the EU gave Belgium an ultimatum until Monday evening to reach a consensus on the deal, and that Michel had already informed European Council President Donald Tusk of Belgium's decision.

This means that a EU-Canada summit scheduled for Thursday, which the deal was supposed to be signed, is likely to be cancelled.

CETA aims to establish a free trade zone between the EU and Canada, scrapping more than 98 percent of existing tariffs between the two partners, but opponents like Wallonia are concerned that the deal would threaten product standards and undermine workers' rights.

The deal took the EU and Canada seven years to negotiate and has received the green light from all other 27 EU members.

However, Belgium's unique political system restricts the federal government from making any decision without the consent of the Francophone Wallonia and the Dutch-speaking Flanders.

The latter has given its approval to the deal and its leader called Wallonia's decision "dreadfully sad."

At an EU summit in Brussels last Friday, Tusk said the deal concerned "the EU's reputation," warning that CETA "could be the EU's last free trade agreement" if it fails. Endit