05/07/2023 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 5 July, the European Commission sent the texts of the modernised Association Agreement and the Interim Trade Agreement with Chile to the Council of the EU for its approval. Once this has been done, the EU and Chile can officially sign the agreement and await ratification by their respective parliaments. Negotiations between the two parties were concluded in December 2022 (see EUROPE 13081/19). The parties had opted to add an interim trade agreement so that the section on trade liberalisation could enter into force before the Association Agreement is ratified by all the Member States. The interim agreement does not require ratification by national parliaments in the EU. (LM)