On Tuesday 23 January, the European chief negotiator Helena König said that the EU and Mexico were moving towards the final phase of their negotiations on the trade section of their revised future global agreement, but "further discussions are needed", with the two parties seeking to finalise a political agreement before 1 March when the Mexican presidential election campaign begins for its elections on 1 July.
The Commission negotiators will host their Mexican counterparts during the week of 5 February, before travelling to Mexico for the week of 12 February, König said.
"We were hoping to conclude by the end of 2017, but it is important that we have a good agreement for both parties", König stated, adding that "central questions remained open" on financial services, the temporary movement of workers, intellectual protection (including the protection of geographical indications) and data protection.
König spoke of "complex" discussions on the protection of geographical indications, "one of the EU's hobby horses" but a thorny issue "also linked to the question of market access for agricultural products". Mexico's industry also wants to protect its goods and the Mexican protection system is based on brands, as in Canada, she said.
"We are very insistent on the protection of our geographical indications. For some of them we plan on a certain flexibility. When there are true economic stakes, the EU is ready to find solutions, but it is important that this is well supported at the economic level", König said.
Furthermore, "it is important to update all the chapters and this is not simple", she continued, underlining two key chapters for the EU – the opening of Mexican public procurement at the sub-federal level, and the inclusion of a chapter on investment protection (including a settlement mechanism for disputes between investors and states, based on the EU's proposal for the Investment Court System included in the CETA EU-Canada free trade agreement, a system which is aimed at replacing the private arbitration ISDS-type courts – see EUROPE 11936).
"Mexico has accepted the principle of sub-federal inclusion, but it is more complex because an agreement with the federated states will be needed. As to the investment protection mechanism, the Mexican minister for the economy, Ildefonso Guajardo, has agreed to work on the basis of the European ICS model", König said.
On sustainable development, "the EU is in the process of checking the text agreed at the discussions in December", König added, giving assurances that "Mexico will have to ratify all the ILO conventions", and that the arrangements provided for a review clause, as in the CETA framework. For the fight against corruption, "the EU wants a firm commitment", she assured.
On behalf of the S&D Group, Spanish MEP Innmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero Fernández raised serious concerns about human rights in Mexico following the publication on Monday of worrying figures: over 25,000 homicides in 2016 (in other words 70 people killed per day) and 13,000 women raped (in other words, 35 rapes per day) – "figures exceeding the darkest figures of the years of fighting the drugs trade".
Rodríguez-Piñero Fernández also said it was "fundamental" to include a chapter on gender equality in the global agreement 2.0 with Mexico, as in that with Chile. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)