Germany and the EU executive have been making a last-ditch attempt to convince Italy to back a free trade agreement with South American bloc Mercosur, which will falter if not signed soon, a leading E...

Paris said that the conditions were not yet right for EU member states to approve the agreement, urging the bloc to postpone upcoming deadlines to allow more work on safeguards for European farmers.

But it faces resistance from European farmers who fear that a flood of cheap imports with less stringent environmental rules, especially beef and chicken, could undercut their products in their home m...