Italy to veto EU-South Korea free-trade deal: minister

[pampango]

Source: Agence France Presse

Italy will veto a free-trade deal between the European Union and South Korea unless changes are made or the implementation of the agreement is pushed back a year, the junior minister for foreign trade warned on Tuesday. "We have asked for changes, especially for the auto sector, but unfortunately our suggestions were not accepted," Adolfo Urso told AFP.

In order to be ratified, the deal will need to unanimously pass a vote on Friday by all 27 European Union member countries.

Urso said deferral of the deal's application would give European automakers, who are vehemently against it, time to prepare for the lowering of trade barriers.

Among other measures, the trade agreement reportedly includes the end to import barriers for South Korean cars in the EU in three years for high and medium-powered vehicles and five years for small cars.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iaxJd4WK2QvkEABkVlMbxwVjZUyg

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Trade agreement backed by MEPs (Members of European Parliament

http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/europe/newsid_8973000/8973718.stm

MEPs have broadly welcomed new safeguard measures being brought in as part of a free trade agreement between the EU and South Korea. The agreement was signed in October 2009 and is expected to come into force by the end of the year.

As part of the agreement new measures will be brought in to protect individual EU industries from any disproportionate rise in imports caused by the agreement.

Swedish liberal MEP Olle Schmidt condemned MEPs who were against the agreement, saying that free trade reduced global poverty and increased liberty. He said that critics were "barking up the wrong tree".

The amendments were approved at the daily voting session on 7 September. However a final vote on the safeguard measures was postponed until October in order to reach agreement with the Council of Ministers.
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Will be interesting to see which way this goes and how liberal and conservative MEP's vote. Sounds like Italy's conservative government wants to block it and, since the vote has to be unanimous, they can do it.

[pscot]

1. If 27 European state get to sign off

on every trade agreement, how come we can't get the same deal here? I bet there would have been a lot less offshoring of US jobs.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. Protecting workers and jobs is not a priority here

"We the People" are too insignificant to matter to powers-that-be.
:hi: