Renegotiating CETA to Appease One Region Could Set Bad Precedent

© REUTERS / Francois LenoirDemonstrators protest against CETA outside the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, October 20, 2016
Demonstrators protest against CETA outside the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, October 20, 2016 - Sputnik International
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Belgium's Wallonia regional parliament has been adamant in its intention to reject the CETA deal.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — If the European Union decided to renegotiate the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which was blocked by Belgium's Wallonia regional parliament, it would set a bad precedent for the EU trade policy and would serve as a sign of the European Union's unpredictability, BusinessEurope federation of EU enterprises' director of international relations Luisa Santos told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"In principle, the agreement is already concluded and negotiations cannot be reopened…. It is worrying, from the viewpoint of the respect of the rule of law, that it is suggested that a concluded agreement can be renegotiated to appease one region within the EU…. This would be a bad precedent for the EU trade policy and would extremely concern all our negotiating partners," Santos warned.

On Thursday, the 28-nation bloc and Ottawa were expected to sign CETA at the joint EU-Canada Summit. However, on Tuesday, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said there was little chance that CETA would be signed as its ratification stumbled in Belgium.

Wallonia's socialist government head Paul Magnette (L) and European Parliament President Martin Schulz hold a joint press conference after their meeting regarding CETA (EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) at the European Parliament in Brussels on October 22, 2016 - Sputnik International
CETA: EU-Canada Trade Deal on the Rocks as Wallonia Rejects Brussels' Ultimatum
On Monday, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said the nation was "not in a position to sign CETA" amid the Walloon government, the Brussels government, the government of Federation Wallonia-Brussels and the French Community Commission's calls to renegotiate the deal. Under the Belgian federal laws, every region has a right to reject the agreement.

CETA aims to establish a free trade zone between Canada and the European Union, scrapping more than 98 percent of the existing tariffs between Ottawa and Brussels. Opponents fear it would undermine standards and regulations on environmental protection, health, safety and workers' rights.

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