Belgian region warns pressure will 'stop' EU-Canada trade talks

A new round of delicate negotiations took place in Brussels on Tuesday in a bid to salvage an EU-Canada trade deal as a holdout Belgian region warned it would stop the talks if it faced more pressure to sign up. A range of consultations involving Belgian and European Union officials were aimed at winning over Wallonia, which has prevented Belgium from supporting the agreement and effectively blocked a deal that must be endorsed by all 28 EU nations. "I want to be clear on the fact that we have already received three ultimatums and that we will not tolerate a fourth ultimatum wherever it comes from," Wallonia leader Paul Magnette told reporters as he went into further talks with Belgian government officials. Canada as well as the European Commission, the EU executive, and the European Council, which groups the member states, have all pushed for what is known as the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). "If there is a fourth ultimatum, we will stop the negotiations," Magnette warned. "One cannot force us to yield under pressure. One cannot ask us to bypass parliamentary checks and procedures," he added. Magnette and other critics criticise terms of the deal intended to protect international investors which, they say, could allow them to force governments to change laws against the wishes of the people. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said Monday his government could not endorse the EU-Canada deal after brief talks in Brussels failed to win over Wallonia as well as the small German community and the Francophone community, all of which oppose the deal. Nonetheless, European Council President Donald Tusk said later following a phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that a summit was "still possible in Brussels" on Thursday. A Trudeau spokesman said the Canadian leader was still planning to fly to Brussels on Thursday to sign the deal, which has involved seven years of negotiations. His trade minister Chrystia Freeland, who engaged in emotional and intensive talks with Magnette last week, has said: "Canada is ready to sign CETA but the ball is in Europe's court and it's time for Europe to do its job." To go ahead, all 28 EU member states, including Belgium, must endorse the pact that would link the EU's single market of 500 million people -- the world's biggest -- with the 10th largest global economy. Leaders of Wallonia, a 3.5 million-strong French-speaking region south of Brussels, want more talks to produce cast-iron reassurances that CETA will not harm local interests. - 'CETA is not dead - The European Commission renewed calls for patience while a majority of the European Parliament called for saving the most ambitious trade deal ever negotiated by Brussels. "CETA is not dead," said both the head of the Conservative European People's Party bloc, Manfred Weber, and his liberal counterpart, Guy Verhofstadt, during a session in Strasbourg, France, . Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister, said it was important to lay the groundwork for approving the deal by November and signing it in December. European Parliament President Martin Schulz told German radio on Tuesday that he did not think a solution will be reached this week but delaying the summit would not mean failure. "If you need 14 more days then you just push back the summit," said the German centre-left politician.