Vienna, Sept 3, 2025 (AFP)
European Council president Antonio Costa on Wednesday welcomed a proposed huge trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur, saying the European Commission's final version "solved a lot of the biggest problems".
The European Commission gave its final greenlight to the accord with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, reassuring chief critic France it came with "robust" safeguards to protect farmers.
"It will be a great opportunity to boost our competitiveness and open our markets to new products, to new services," Costa told reporters in Vienna alongside Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker, whose country opposes the Mercosur deal.
Stocker said Austria -- which is bound by a parliamentary decision to oppose Mercosur -- was reviewing the proposal.
"We will indeed examine this proposal, and it will then become clear whether a change in the parliament's stance is necessary, whether there is a fundamental change, or whether further discussions are required to make more progress here," Stocker said.
The text needs to be approved by at least 15 of the EU's 27 member nations -- and the European Parliament -- to be formally adopted.

Sumber : AFP