Timing for CETA Signing Unclear as Negotiations Continue in Belgium

Editor's Note: Since press time, reports have emerged that a consensus has been reached and Belgium will be in a position to ratify the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement. The EU and Canada now aim to sign the deal next week. Bridges will provide a full update. Efforts to reach a consensus across EU member states on whether to sign on to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a deal negotiated between the European Union and Canada, have faced a difficult road this past week, as the Belgian federal government attempts to secure the unanimous support of its regional bodies in order to approve the accord. At press time, negotiations in Belgium remained underway in an effort so that EU and Canadian leaders could sign CETA at a bilateral summit, which was previously planned for this week. Talks were slated to resume in the morning, after going late into the night on Wednesday. For the time being, the EU-Canada summit has been pushed back indefinitely from its original start date of Thursday 27 October, pending the outcome of the negotiations. The high-stakes effort has brought front and centre the long-simmering debate over the value of deeper international economic integration among...