Roundup: Belgium's regional parliaments approve CETA deal

Belgium's all regional assemblies, including the parliament of the southern region Wallonia and the parliament of the French community, Friday voted in favor of CETA, a planned free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada.

On Friday night, both Brussels parliament and Belgium's French-speaking parliament approved the deal.

The Brussels parliament gathered 60 votes out of 76 in support of the treaty. The French-speaking parliament obtained more or less the same results with 50 votes "for" and 12 votes "against".

Earlier, on Friday afternoon, the Belgian region of Wallonia formally approved the CETA deal following an extraordinary meeting of lawmakers. The amended treaty gathered 58 out of 63 votes in favor of the deal.

The parliament of the Belgian German-speaking community and the Flemish parliament also approved the amended text.

An amended version of the deal was put on the table Thursday as a result of intensive negotiations between Belgian politicians. All devolved parliaments had to endorse the treaty before midnight on Friday.

Regional lawmakers finally agreed on this new version of the treaty of which two key amendments are as follows: the European Court of Justice will have to determine whether the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) is compatible with European treaties; the CETA deal will be assessed regularly in regard of its social, economic and environmental impacts.

Once signed by the European Union (EU) and Canada, the free trade agreement will be partially and temporarily endorsed. However, on the EU side, the deal's full endorsement won't be realized until each of the bloc's 28 member states gives greenlight, which could take up to years. Endit