"The three parliaments will approve CETA today, there is an agreement among the majority parties," the lawmaker from the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vld) party, backing the deal, said.
On Friday afternoon, Wallonia's parliament, which initially opposed the deal, thus, disrupting its signing, already passed the deal by majority of votes.
"An interpretative declaration has been written, which explains the treaty, and guarantees, amongst other things, the fact that Europe doesn’t have to lower social and ecological standards, and that Canadian companies can’t force European governments to change these high standards. Public services will be protected against privatizing," the lawmaker explained, asked how the deal was adjusted to Wallonia's and other French-speaking regions' concerns.
He added that some guarantees about the Investment Court System (ICS), which had long been one of the stumbling points in rejecting the deal by the Socialist Party, were given. It was decided that judges should be appointed by the government, so it would be a public court and not a private tribunal. Besides, as the treaty is not ratified by the various parliaments, ICS is not applicable.
Later on Friday, two other Belgium regional parliaments will debate and vote on CETA with the Brussels regional parliament expected to have finished the discussion by 6:00 p.m. local time (4:00 GMT) and the parliament of Wallonia-Brussels Federation to have a final say on this trade agreement by about 9:00 p.m. (7:00 GMT).
