European leaders will be asked to help salvage a stalled EU-Canada trade deal at a summit later this week after fruitless efforts to break the deadlock before a special meeting today.
EU trade ministers were called to Luxembourg this morning in the expectation that all 28 member states would sign the so-called Ceta pact with Canada before ceremonies scheduled next week, writes the FT’s Arthur Beesley in Luxembourg.
But a senior diplomat said objections in a regional Belgian parliament have not been overcome, meaning the pact will remain unsigned after the Luxembourg talks.
The matter will be tackled again when EU leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday for a two-day summit, although diplomats say there is little prospect of a breakthrough until next week. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is due to meet EU leaders on October 27 to sign the Ceta but he will not travel is there no agreement.
“We are not really there and I don’t think we will land today,” said Cecilia Malmstrom, EU trade commissioner as she arrived for the talks.
The Belgian government wants to sign the deal but it cannot proceed with regional authorisation. The parliament of the French-speaking Walloon region of Belgium voted against the Ceta last Friday, the latest in a series of objections. Despite intensive efforts by the EU and Belgian authorities to appease objectors in the parliament, there is no sign of a reversal.
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