Tiny Belgian region could hold UK to ransom: Post-Brexit EU trade deal could take 10 YEARS

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Theresa May and president of Wallonia

Ministers fear bloc bigwigs could hold us to ransom after the EU failed in its bid to secure a lucrative deal with Canada when the Federation of Wallonia-Brussels overruled them. 

Politicians have already described the CETA outcome, as influenced by the tiny French-speaking Belgium region, as a “very serious problem for Brexit”. 

In growing signs of how difficult Britain’s divorce negotiations could be, the parliament for Belgium’s French-speakers voted to reject the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and repeatedly refused to support the deal. 

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Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker

It could take a decade to agree Britain is at the mercy of the Walloons

While all 28 member states supported the deal, Belgium could not give its official approval without the backing of its five sub-federal administrations, including Wallonia,  a tiny region in Belgium, which has a population of 3.5million. 

It raises the prospect a tiny region like Wallonia could make it difficult for Britain to strike a good deal during divorce proceedings. 

A minister told The Daily Telegraph: “It could take a decade to agree Britain is at the mercy of the Walloons.” 

Wallonia rejected the deal with Canada over concerns about public services and agriculture, and emergency talks this afternoon could not sway their decision. 

Sir Andrew Cahn, the former head of the UK Trade & Investment, warned that the UK would have to wait five years before a post-Brexit trade deal with Brussels is agreed. 

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Canadian trade minister Chrystia Freeland walked out of the seven-year talks

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Theresa May said Britain would not use the EU-Canada model when agreeing post-Brexit trade deals

He said Britain would have to secure “interim” arrangements while all of the 27 EU countries agree the fine detail of any new deal, during an interview on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme. 

It comes after Prime Minister Theresa May insisted she would begin trade negotiations with foreign countries, despite Brussels demands this should happen after Article 50 is triggered. 

The prime minister said she believed the Canada trade deal was “very important”.