OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper played down objections being heard in Europe about Canada-European Union free-trade arrangements, saying he is certain the agreement negotiators completed last month will eventually be ratified in Canada and Europe.

But he said the pact, which took five years to hammer out, may be subject to minor adjustments before it comes into force, which is not expected until 2016.

“In the normal process” of approval of the agreement, it’s likely “that somebody will say, ‘Well, change this here or give me a bit more money there,’ ” Harper said Friday at a news conference with senior EU officials.

“I expect this kind of thing will happen, but in the end, we have a good agreement” and it has the commitment of the 28 member states of the EU and Canada’s federal and provincial governments, Harper said. “And we will honour those commitments.”

Harper didn’t specify what amendments might be made to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). But Germany has expressed doubts about controversial investor-protection measures contained in the trade deal.

And, in terms of financial issues, the federal government has promised compensation for provinces that may in time incur higher costs for prescription-drug plans because of CETA. Cheese producers who may face tough competition from Europe have also been promised financial help.

The trade deal was the main focus of a Canada-EU summit hosted by Harper in Ottawa on Friday. Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso joined Harper in signing a declaration marking the completion of the CETA negotiations.

In the past year, opposition to CETA has blown up in Europe because of concerns about measures in the deal that allow multinational corporations to sue governments at special tribunals if the companies believe their profitability has been unfairly jeopardized by a host government’s laws or regulations. Critics say this leaves policymakers hostage to business demands.

A spokesperson for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government said Friday Germany will not approve CETA unless the investor-protection measures are removed, according to a Bloomberg report from Berlin.

But Barroso told reporters all EU governments, including Germany, support CETA. He and other EU trade officials have noted recently that the commission was authorized by EU member states to negotiate a free-trade pact with Canada containing investor-protection measures.

“Until now, all the official communications we’ve received from Germany were absolutely in favour of this agreement,” Barroso said.

But European officials say privately concerns in the EU about investor-protection measures in CETA are growing because the Canada-EU agreement constitutes a template for recently launched free-trade negotiations between the EU and the United States.

Opposition by Germany would be a significant setback in the approval process for CETA, which over the next two years will likely require ratification by each of the EU’s 28-member governments.

But Harper and the EU officials said completion of the negotiations marks a new era in relations between Canada and Europe and said the deal will strengthen the economies and enhance job creation here and on the continent.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said his party is “very reticent” about CETA because of the same concerns about investor-protection clauses being raised in Germany.

He said the provisions give foreign corporations undue sway over regulatory standards in areas such as public health and the environment.

“The investor state provision in the European trade deal means that Canadians are stuck with this for the next 20 years. Foreign corporations will be able to make determinations as to the rules regarding health,” Mulcair told reporters in Ottawa.

“Like the Germans, we’re very reticent to give up our sovereignty.”

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities praised the progress on CETA.

“A CETA agreement will lead to new opportunities for both investments into our cities and communities as well as greater access to European markets for our local businesses,” FCM president Brad Woodside said in a statement.

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But the Council of Canadians, which has been critical of CETA, said the celebration of the completion of negotiations at Friday’s Canada-EU Summit was “nothing more than a desperate public relations effort in the face of growing opposition to the deal on both sides of the Atlantic.”

The federal government, which has been under pressure for months to make the CETA text public, did so Friday.

With files from Bruce Campion-Smith

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