国际英语资讯:EU-Canada summit to take place Sunday: Tusk

The European Union (EU)-Canada summit will take place on Sunday, European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted late Friday.

"Mission accomplished! Just agreed with (Canadian) PM Justin Trudeau to hold EU-Canada Summit this Sunday," Tusk said.

The remarks shortly came after all Belgian regional parliaments voted in favor of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, on Friday.

Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia, with a population of 3.5 million, has been the biggest obstacle of CETA signing as Belgium's backing asked for unanimity from all regional parliaments under the country's complex federal legislative rule.

Meanwhile, the EU, a bloc with 500 million people, can only sign the deal with consent of all member states.

Wallonia's lawmakers, who previously concerned that the deal would jeopardize European farmers' interest and grant too much power to multinationals, overturned the opposition after Belgian politicians agreed to add an addendum to the deal on Thursday.

Under the addendum, the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) of the deal, which would allow enterprises to sue European governments, would be determined by the European Court of Justice whether compatible with European treaties.

Meanwhile, CETA would be assessed regularly in regard of its social, economic and environmental impacts.

Wallonia's former resistance led to the cancellation of Trudeau's scheduled visit to Brussels on Thursday, during which the EU and Canada were expected to sign the deal after seven years of negotiations.

The Belgian drama was viewed as another scenery generated by anti-globalization after Britain's shock referendum vote to leave the EU in June, adding uncertainty to the bloc's standing on its unity and solidarity as well as the capability to steer international negotiations.

The EU was further embarrassed and questioned, especially after it had hoped the CETA with such a like-minded country as Canada would lay the ground for the bloc's other trades deals with global powers including the United States and Japan.

Only cautious optimism was expressed from both the EU and Canada after the Belgian drama. Tusk said earlier he would only contact the Canadian prime minister after all procedures were finalized.

"Once bitten, twice shy," Trudeau was reported to comment on Thursday.

The CETA would remove more than 99 percent of tariffs that were currently imposed on trade between the EU and Canada and was expected to increase bilateral trade by 12 billion euros (about 13.2 billion U.S. dollars) per year, said the EU.