EU Envoys Back Launch of Canada Trade Talks

(Reuters – Darren Ennis)

European Union foreign ministers should agree to launch talks next week on a bilateral trade pact with Canada worth around $27 billion per year after EU envoys endorsed the plan on Thursday, diplomats said.

“The foreign ministers should give the green light at their meeting on Monday with the formal launch at the EU-Canada summit in Prague on May 6,” a diplomat told Reuters following a meeting of 27 EU ambassadors in Brussels.

France expressed some reservations to starting the negotiations under current economic conditions, but Paris’ lifted its veto on Friday after its concerns were met, diplomats said. Read more here.