A majority of the European Union's 27 members on Friday approved a long-negotiated deal that paves the way for a vast free trade bloc across Europe and Latin America. The Mercosur agreement – the biggest the EU has ever agreed – continues to face fierce opposition from France and a handful of other countries, and cannot come into force without the final say of the European Parliament.
A qualified majority of member states – at least 15 countries representing 65 percent of the EU’s population – backed the deal at a meeting in Brussels on Friday.
