European Parliament President Martin Schulz told German radio on Tuesday that he did not expect a free trade deal between the European Union and Canada to be signed this week.
Belgium said on Monday it could not formally back the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) — which needs the unanimous support of the 28 EU nations — because its French-speaking Wallonia region opposes it.
Schulz told the network a solution would be, in his words, "very, very difficult to me."
He added that it would therefore be necessary to postpone an EU-Canada summit planned for Thursday.
Whether or not an agreement can be reached this week depends on the federal Belgian government reaching an agreement with Wallonia on Tuesday, Schulz said. He said he was "skeptical" about that but thought they would ultimately find a compromise.
Wallonia premier Paul Magnette said Tuesday that his Belgian region was not opposed to a planned EU-Canada free trade deal in itself, but that an arbitration scheme needed to be dropped and public services protected. Magnette has said emphatically that he wants a deal.
But he added that a court system specifically created to resolve disputes between investors and governments could be exploited by big business to dictate public policy, referring to a system known as Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), enabling foreign companies to challenge state interference, such as expropriation.
