EU executive: Patience trumps deadlines in EU-Canada talks

BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union's executive called for patience in an attempt to save a free trade deal with Canada and dismissed a Monday night deadline for a small Belgian region to provide its vital signature to the deal.

The EU and Canada want to sign the deal at a summit on Thursday in Brussels, for which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would fly in. But the meeting will be cancelled if the Belgian region of Wallonia, the lone holdout, withholds its approval.

The deal needs unanimity among the 28 EU nations and Belgium is the only approval lacking since it needs the backing of all its regions.

As Thursday's summit draws near, pressure has increased on Wallonia, population 3.5 million, to drop its objections over a deal covering over 500 million EU citizens and 35 million Canadians.

The EU Commission, which has negotiated the deal on behalf of the 28 nations, insisted that this week's summit was not the final deadline.

"Now, we need patience," said EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas. "The Commission traditionally does not set deadlines or ultimatums."

Andre Antoine, the head of the Wallonia legislature, said on RTL network that "no, it will not be possible" to back the deal on Monday, arguing there are too many outstanding issues.

Even if Thursday's EU-Canada summit has to be called off, it could always be rescheduled when Wallonia has signed on to the agreement, Schinas indicated.

Over the past week, Belgium missed two deadlines to agree to the deal and Canada briefly walked out of the trade talks before returning the next day.

EU officials said that without guarantees that the EU is ready to finalize the deal, there would be no reason to have a summit on Thursday with Trudeau.

Politicians in Wallonia, which is smaller than the U.S. state of New Jersey, argue that the proposed CETA accord - short for Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement - would undermine labor, environment and consumer standards and allow multinationals to crush local companies.

New attempts were made to sway Wallonia leader Paul Magnette over the weekend.

Magnette said Wallonia still saw difficulties and said a better deal would bolster EU standards and set a strong precedent for future trade talks between Europe and trading partners like the United States or Japan.