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Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel will speak to European Council President Donald Tusk on Monday evening to discuss if an assurance can be given that the Wallonia parliament will support the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada.
Reports indicate that Michel has been given the deadline of Monday evening to commit to CETA or else the EU-Canadian summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday for the signing of the trade deal will be cancelled.
On Friday, the Wallonia parliament, a small region in Belgium, voted to block the CETA deal leaving the trade deal in the brink of collapse. Wallonia blocked the deal as it saw it as a threat to farmers and welfare standards.
Elio di Rupo, former Belgian Prime Minister and current head of the Wallon Socialist Party, told Belgian TV on Sunday that “more time was needed” for the Belgian region to agree to let CETA be finalised.
Agriculture
The trade deal would allow Canada total duty-free access to 50,000t carcase weight equivalent (CWE) of fresh and frozen beef and 75,000t CWE of pork into the EU. The EU beef and sheep meat market access into Canada will be fully liberalised at zero in-quota rates.
On dairying, Canada will have duty-free access into the EU dairy market. For the EU, there will be a high-value cheese quota of 16,800t, with provision to allow newcomers, including Ireland and other member states, 30% access to the new quota.
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