Foreign ministers ended a long struggle with the Commission this week…

Date: 28/03/1996

...by agreeing to allow negotiations on a free trade accord with South Africa to begin. But getting a deal is sure to an uphill struggle, given the limitations on the agricultural chapter of any future accord imposed on the Commission by EU governments. South Africa has already said it would consent to eliminating certain products during trade talks, but that it did not want to open negotiations if entire groups of products were to be excluded from the start.