3rd LD Writethru: EU, Canada sign landmark free trade deal after Belgian drama

The European Union (EU) and Canada signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, on Sunday in the wake of a weeks-long Belgian drama concluded.

European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker together with Robert Fico, Prime Minister of Slovakia which is holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU, signed the long-delayed free trade deal with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a ceremony held in Brussels.

Tusk tweeted after the signing ceremony, saying that the West still possess enough strength and determination to counter fatalism of political's decay.

"The battle for CETA was highly emotional. Post-factual reality & post-truth politics pose a great challenge on both sides of the Atlantic," he tweeted.

Tusk said tree trade and globalization have protected humanity from poverty, hunger and total conflict, but few people seems to believe this today.

"We need to explain better the real effects of free trade. Protectionism means a return to national egoisms, and threat of violent conflict," he said in his twitter.

Juncker also tweeted to celebrate the signature of the deal, saying "Done. CETA is as of today the new golden standard in trade agreements."

The CETA would remove more than 99 percent of tariffs that were currently imposed on trade between the EU and Canada and was expected to increase bilateral trade by 12 billion euros (about 13.2 billion U.S. dollars) per year, the European Commission said in a press released on Sunday.

"At the end of transitional periods for duty elimination, Canada will eliminate duties worth 500 million euros a year for goods originating in the EU,"the statement noted.

Meanwhile, the EU executive body stressed that the agreement will have no impact on governments' powers to regulate in the public interest, especially with regard to environmental and social standards.

The signing ceremony planned for Thursday was cancelled after a Belgian region opposed to sign the deal. The French-speaking Belgian region Wallonia concerned that the deal would jeopardize European farmers' interest and grants too much power to multinationals.

The EU, a bloc with 500 million people, can only sign the deal with consent of all member states.

The consensus reached by all regional parliaments of Belgium on approving the CETA Friday cleared the way for signing of the deal.

On Wallonia's requirement, the negotiators from EU and Canadian sides agreed to add an addendum to the deal.

Under the addendum, the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) of the deal, which would allow enterprises to sue European governments, would be determined by the European Court of Justice whether compatible with European treaties.

Meanwhile, the deal was said to come with a binding joint interpretative instrument, which will explain what the provisions mean in practice.

"This is intended to help citizens understand better the meaning and scope of the agreement," the EU said.

After signature, the free trade deal still needs to get consent from the European Parliament for it to enter into force provisionally. Endit