Austria deals first blow to EU-Mercosur trade pactAustrian lawmakers have rejected an EU-Mercosur trade deal, putting the fate of the project in doubt. Several European states have raised concerns about the South American trade agreement and the environment.
A free trade pact between the European Union and four South American countries was thrown further into doubt on Wednesday after the Austrian parliament rejected the deal.
Representatives from four out of five of the main parties in the Austrian parliament's EU subcommittee voted against the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement.
Lawmaker Jörg Leichtfried of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), which brought the motion to a vote, outlined his party's concerns in a Facebook post.
"In times of the climate crisis, having more products cross the sea that we can produce here in Europe is the absolutely wrong path," he wrote shortly before the vote, later tweeting his pleasure that the veto had been approved.
https://www.dw.com/en/austria-deals-first-blow-to-eu-mercosur-trade-pact/a-50489747Excellent.
