No breakthrough on Ceta this week: President of EU parliament
NAN-F-2
Negotiation
Berlin, Oct. 25, 2016 (dpa/NAN) There will be no breakthrough in negotiations over a controversial EU-Canada trade deal this week, EU Parliament President Martin Schulz, said on Tuesday.
Schulz said that a summit set to be attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be postponed.
“I do not think that we will have a solution this week,this seems very, very difficult to me,” Schulz said.
Belgium’s government has failed to sway the country’s francophone Wallonia region to support the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which is supposed to be signed by Trudeau and European Union officials at the summit in Brussels on Thursday.
CETA is designed to ease the flow of goods between Canada and the EU by removing tariffs and trade barriers and requires all 28 EU member states to be on board.
Belgium is the only country that has not given its approval.
Wallonia has vowed to stall the country’s approval until its concerns about the deal’s impact on social and environmental laws have been addressed.
“Such a transatlantic trade agreement is not some little contract on the sale of a used car; it is an unprecedented trade agreement of global importance.
“If you need another 14 days, then you postpone the summit,” Schulz said. (dpa/NAN)
OYE/AMY
Edited by Damilola Oyewole and Abdullahi Yusuf