BACKGROUND Wallonia: How one Belgian region can block an EU trade deal

Brussels (dpa) - Belgium‘s picturesque, French-speaking region of Wallonia has been thrust into the diplomatic spotlight during the last week.The region of 3.6 million people that saw the defeat of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Waterloo two centuries ago appears to have scuppered a key trade deal between the European Union and Canada.Last Friday, the regional government in Wallonia refused to give its approval to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), following a vote in the regional parliament.Belgium‘s federal system means that all five regional and language-based assemblies - representing Wallonia, Flanders and Belgium‘s French, Dutch and German-speaking communities - have far-reaching powers across a range of policy issues.These issues include international agreements that impact regional interests, including therefore the CETA agreement.Wallonia‘s Socialist government is concerned that the deal could erode Belgian social and environmental standards and threaten the region‘s agricultural industry, among other things.Federal politics is also thought to be at play. Wallonia‘s Socialist government is blocking the deal, but it is Prime Minister Charles Michel‘s centre-right coalition government that is having to bear the consequences."In another political context they would probably not have blocked [CETA]," Dave Sinardet of the Free University of Brussels told dpa.Canada and the EU offered Wallonia various compromises and assurances that CETA will not undermine standards, but the region‘s prime minister, Paul Magnette, has refused to budge.