On Monday 13 November, the European Commission stated in a press release that the fifth round of negotiations (since their start in October 2016) for an EU-Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) free trade agreement enabled “substantive progress” towards an agreement in all areas covered. This fifth round of negotiations was held in Brasilia on 6-10 November and also enabled the way to be paved for a third exchange of offers on market access.
Progress was recorded in the main consolidated texts (including goods, services, public procurement, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, intellectual property, geographical indications, trade and sustainable development, SMEs, technical barriers to trade, dispute settlement, and other cross-cutting issues), the Commission states.
The negotiators also paved the way for an improved exchange of offers on market access (covering goods, services and public procurement).
At the end of this round, the technical-level negotiators confirmed their commitment to concluding an agreement “before the end of 2017” that is “beneficial for all”. The next round will be held in Brussels over the last week of November and the first week of December.
On the sidelines of the fifth round, the European and South American negotiators met representatives from Mercosur's Economic and Social Consultative Forum and from the European Economic and Social Committee, which bring together representatives from trade unions, employers and civil society.
Technical-level work was supported by the tour of Argentina and Brazil last week taken by European Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Competitiveness and Investment Jyrki Katainen to prepare the final phase of the negotiations.
At the end of his meeting with Brazil's President Michel Temer on Friday 10 November, Katainen gave assurances that both parties were very close to finalising an agreement in principle.
At the political level, EU and Mercosur leaders do not hide their hope of reaching an agreement before the general elections in Brazil in October 2018.
On the South American side, assurances are given that both parties are working actively on reaching a political agreement on the sidelines of the WTO ministerial conference in Buenos Aires on 10-13 December.
At the end of an EU trade ministers' meeting on Friday, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström spoke of “strong political support” at the Council to conclude these talks, deeming the chances of doing this by the end of 2017 as “realistic”.
Speaking to press on Monday 13 November, Katainen gave assurances that France would be one of the main beneficiaries of an EU-Mercosur trade agreement.
“According to our calculations, France would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of an agreement, which would give opportunities to its industry and agricultural sector”, Katainen stated.
“We understand this question perfectly (Ed: of France's concerns about EU concessions on beef and ethanol) and we have to find a solution”, he added, stating that it was “too early” to define precise compensation measures.
“Everyone says the timing is very important because next year Brazil will be busy with its elections and it will be difficult to continue the negotiations”, he concluded.
During the exchange on revised offers on market offers for goods, services and public procurement, which took place in October, the EU talked in terms of opening import tariff quotas of 70,000 tonnes for beef and 60,000 tonnes for ethanol.
This offer, which is of concern to a dozen or so member states (starting with France), – which are also concerned about the treatment given to other sensitive products such as poultry, sugar and honey – did not, however, respond to the expectations of Mercosur, which considers these quotas below those proposed at the start of the negotiations in 2004 of 100,000 tonnes of beef and a million tonnes of ethanol.
The European side, meanwhile, deemed South America's revised offer on public procurement access insufficient (see EUROPE 11903). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)