EU parliament votes through landmark Canadian trade deal

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The EU parliament has given the thumbs up to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the EU-Canada free trade deal.

The deal, which has been almost eight years in the making, risked crumbling late last year, when the parliament of the Belgian region of Wallonia refused to give it the green light over concerns regarding labour laws and protections for its farmers. 

However, the Belgian government has since stepped in to soothe the region's fears, and the deal was signed last October.

Read more: Is the blocking of the EU-Canada trade deal a bad sign for Britain?

That took the deal to the stage of parliamentary approval, which was officially granted by MEPs earlier today.

Approval means that some parts of the deal, such as reduced tariffs on trade, can be applied provisionally while the deal goes through the lengthy process of formal ratification by each of the European member states.

In a statement issued after the vote, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said: "This progressive agreement is an opportunity to shape globalisation together and influence the setting of global trade rules. The best example of this is the work that we are already doing with our Canadian friends to establish multilateral rules to deal with investment issues.

Read More: Slow lane for EU-Canada trade deal could hit Brexit negotiations

"I now call on all member states to conduct an inclusive and thorough discussion at national level with the relevant stakeholders in the context of the national ratification process of the agreement".

The UK is only part of the deal thanks to its EU membership and will need to negotiate a new agreement of its own with Canada after Brexit. 

Unfortunately for the UK, Canada's finance minister Bill Morneau let slip last November that his country's main focus for trade deals would be the EU, China and the US, although he added he was sure Canada and the UK would strike a deal eventually.