The trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur economic bloc came into provisional effect on Friday, after Uruguay and Argentina officially ratified the treaty a day earlier, reports IPN.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that, thanks to the trade agreement, a market of 720 million inhabitants will be created, one of the largest free trade zones in the world. She emphasized that the treaty will reduce billions of dollars in tariffs and will provide small and medium-sized enterprises with access to new markets, previously inaccessible to them.
The entry into force of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, signed on January 17, is currently suspended, as the European Parliament has blocked its ratification and requested the EU Court of Justice to verify its legality. However, the European Commission has the right to apply the agreement on a provisional basis, after at least one state from Mercosur has ratified the treaty.
