In World Cup year, Europe offers Brazil longer-term goal By Robin Emmott and Alonso Soto BRUSSELS/BRASILIA (Reuters) - While much of Brazil is focused on hosting next year’s soccer World Cup and the Olympic Games in 2016, an event of far longer-lasting economic significance is bubbling below the surface. If all goes to plan, Brazil will sign its first major free-trade agreement next year, 15 years after talks were first launched with Europe on an ambitious deal. But success or failure for Brazil relies on dealing with an unpredictable partner, Argentina. The European Union and the South American trade bloc Mercosur have set themselves a deadline of December 31 to swap offers for opening markets in a pact that would encompass 750 million people and $130 billion in annual trade.

In World Cup year, Europe offers Brazil longer-term goal By Robin Emmott and Alonso Soto BRUSSELS/BRASILIA (Reuters) - While much of Brazil is focused on hosting next year’s soccer World Cup and the Olympic Games in 2016, an event of far longer-lasting economic significance is bubbling below the surface. If all goes to plan, Brazil will sign its first major free-trade agreement next year, 15 years after talks were first launched with Europe on an ambitious deal. But success or failure for Brazil relies on dealing with an unpredictable partner, Argentina. The European Union and the South American trade bloc Mercosur have set themselves a deadline of December 31 to swap offers for opening markets in a pact that would encompass 750 million people and $130 billion in annual trade.