
European stock markets mostly rose on Wednesday after official data showed that the Euro zone had finally escaped from a record 18-month recession. The Euro-zone climbed out of recession with surprisingly strong growth of 0.3 percent in the second quarter led by Germany and France, announced the European Union.

The 28-country European Union underscored the potential benefits of a free trade agreement with Mercosur and revealed that so far no country member of the group has requested to a bilateral negotiation.

Brazil, Latin America‘s biggest economy, is planning to try to negotiate a separate trade deal with the European Union, Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said in remarks published Monday.

Free trade agreements, FTA, signed by the European Union with Colombia, and with Central American countries Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama became effective August first as part of the EU strategy to eliminate tariffs on trade with Central American and the Andean region.

Brazil on Thursday expressed support for the IMF latest aid package for Greece, disavowing its IMF delegate who abstained in a vote on the issue. Finance Minister Guido Mantega spoke with IMF chief Christine Lagarde and backed the Fund's decision to release 1.7 billion Euros in rescue loans to ailing Greece Monday, his spokesman said.

The European Central Bank left interest rates at a record low 0.5% on Thursday and said that they will remain there for some while to come and could yet fall further. ECB President Mario Draghi hinted that policy would not be tightened until well into next year at the earliest, although the central bank will give no time horizon for when rates might move.

The battle over growing genetically modified crops in France flared anew on Thursday as the country's top administrative court overturned a government ban on growing GM corn sold by the US giant Monsanto.

The number of unemployed in the Euro-zone has fallen, slightly, for the first time since April 2011. The fall in June came amid brightening economic prospects, suggesting an end to the bloc’s stubborn recession.

The European Union agreed on Monday to put the armed wing of Hezbollah on its terrorism blacklist, a move driven by concerns over the Lebanese militant group's roles in a bus bombing in Bulgaria and the Syrian war.

On the 1 July 2013, Croatia became the 28th member of the EU after a decade of carrying out all the reforms needed to bring it into line with EU laws and standards.