BRUSSELS – One of Belgium’s regional governments has voted to reject the wide-ranging CETA trade deal between the European Union and Canada, threatening a complex agreement that is supposed to be signed in two weeks.
The deal requires unanimous approval from the European Union’s member countries, including Belgium.
READ MORE: Canada to send special envoy to meet with Belgium over CETA rejection
Under Belgium’s constitutional rules, however, one of its three regions can effectively veto such a deal for the whole country.
Wallonia’s regional legislature rejected the deal by a 46-14 margin on Friday, with one abstention.
The francophone region of 3.5 million people fears the deal with Canada will leave the farming and industrial sectors too exposed to cheaper imports from Canada.
READ MORE: CETA: Protests against Canada-EU trade deal held across Germany
Environmental activists and trade unions have all warned such international deals could worsen local standards for food, work and industry.
Paul Magnette, the leader of the region of Wallonia, said Friday he would “not give the full powers to the federal government” to back the deal at an EU meeting Tuesday, where the 28 member states have to decide on full approval of the agreement.
Magnette said that “the guarantees are insufficient” and said labour, environmental and legal standards needed to be improved before such a deal could be approved.
“We have to say ‘no’ so we can negotiate,” Magnette said.
The agreement has already been backed by an overwhelming majority of the 28 member nations of the EU, a bloc of half a billion people.
It is scheduled to be officially signed at an EU-Canada summit in Brussels with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Oct. 27, seven years after talks started under the previous Conservative government led by Stephen Harper.
READ MORE: CETA: Canada-EU trade deal has Germany’s approval, minister says
The Belgian national government and the dominant Dutch-speaking region on Flanders back the deal.
“We are certainly brave,” said Marie-Dominique Simonet of the Walloon Christian Democrat CdH party.
The Liberal MR party, which is also represented in the national government, was scathing. “You are taking Belgium and Europe hostage,” said Virginie Defrang-Firket in the legislature. “Nobody will trust us anymore,” she said.
The EU says the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement deal with Canada will improve trade, create jobs, and remove just about all tariffs and custom duties while at the same time guaranteeing European standards on anything from food and health quality to labour rights.
For many, the CETA is only a prelude to an even bigger free trade deal, called TTIP, that is being negotiated with the United States, and which has given rise already to massive protests in several member states, including Belgium — and Wallonia.
Talks are planned ahead of Tuesday to see to whether Wallonia might withdraw its rejection.