European Parliament President Martin Schulz told German radio on Tuesday that he did not expect a free trade deal between the European Union and Canada to be signed this week.

Belgium said on Monday it could not formally back the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) — which needs the unanimous support of the 28 EU nations — because its French-speaking Wallonia region opposes it.

"I don't think that we'll get a solution this week," Schulz told Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio station. "That would seem to be very, very difficult to me."

He added that it would therefore be necessary to postpone an EU-Canada summit planned for Thursday.

This has been excerpted from the 25 October 2016 edition of CBC News and is available in its entirety at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-eu-ceta-martin-schulz-intvu-1.3820028