On Thursday 7 December, a source at the European Commission told EUROPE that the EU does not rule out the prolongation, in early 2018, of its negotiations for a free trade agreement with Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), but with the objective of sealing an agreement in principle before the possible resignation, in March, of the government in Brazil ahead of general elections in the country in October.
"We think we can achieve (the conclusion of the negotiations) if not at the end of the year, at the beginning of next year, because we are very much involved. It this goes on until January or early February, it is not a tragedy", European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said on 5 December.
Under Brazilian law, "all those who stand for elections must resign six months beforehand, which means that at the end of March there will be no more government", she said.
There will be bilateral meetings between Europeans and Latin Americans on the sidelines of the WTO ministerial conference in Buenos Aires on 10-13 December, and "possibly an announcement on where we have reached", she said.
On the technical level, the EU-Mercosur talks are in a crucial phase. The sixth round of negotiations (since being resumed in October 2016) started on 29 November and was due to finish on Friday 8 December but gave rise to an exchange of improved offers on market access (goods, services and public procurement) on 4 December.
The last improved offer of the EU, which was presented by the Commission to the member states at the end of November before this sixth round of negotiations, does not increase the concessions already offered on beef or ethanol, but opens a quota for sugar imports. EUROPE has seen a copy of this improved offer.
According to a document of 23 November, the revised EU offer provides for tariff rate quotas for sensitive agricultural products (including 70,000 tonnes of beef, 600,000 tonnes of ethanol, 100,000 tonnes of sugar for refining, and 2,000 tonnes of other sugars.
A source told EUROPE that the Commission does not rule out an improvement of the EU's offer for beef and ethanol in the end game, however, in order to reach an agreement in principle. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)