EU agrees to South Korea free trade deal
The Associated Press, Brussels | Thu, 09/16/2010 4:21 PM
Decision makers: French President Nicolas Sarkozy, front second right, speaks with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, left, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso during a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday. Second row left to right, Slovenia's Prime Minister Borut Pahor, Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finland's Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi. AP/Michel Euler
The European Union's presidency says the 27-nation bloc has agreed to sign a free trade deal with South Korea after overcoming objections from Italy, which feared the pact would hurt its ailing auto industry.
Belgian Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, says the deal was agreed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on the sidelines of a leaders' summit in Brussels.
He said Thursday the deal will come into force on July 1, 2011.
Vanackere calls the agreement "a very big step" in binding a major Asian economy with the European Union that will "create prosperity" for South Korea and Europe.
