MEPs stressed the social and sustainable development dimensions at a hearing at the European Parliament on Wednesday 20 June on the EU's trade relations with Latin America.
Opening the work organised by the European Parliament’s international trade committee (INTA), the head of the Americas section of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Edita Hrdá, talked of progress in the talks on updating the trade aspects of the overarching agreement with Mexico and the Association Agreement with Chile and on completing on the trade aspects of an Association Agreement with Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay).
The revised overarching agreement with Mexico, the first Latin or Central American country to sign a free-trade agreement with the EU in 1997, will be one of the most modern in existence, she said. Its political arm was completed in November 2017 and agreement in principle was reached on the trade arm on 21 April (see EUROPE 12007). The technical aspects of the trade arm now need to be negotiated. Several chapters (environment, energy, digital had macroeconomic policy) have been grafted onto the revised overarching agreement, explained Hrdá.
The talks on revising the EU-Chile Association Agreement were delayed by the transfer of power in Chile following the December 2017 presidential election (see EUROPE 11988), but resumed in the third round of talks at the end of May/early June, where good progress was made (see EUROPE 12039).
The negotiations with Mercosur are still ‘complex’ explained Hrdá. The political cooperation side has already been completed, but Hrdá is not expecting agreement on economic issues after eighteen years of talks. After the Montevideo negotiations in early June (see EUROPE 12040), Hrdá made no mention of the announced objective of reaching agreement this summer.
Social and sustainable development dimension
The MEPs in attendance laid great emphasis on the social dimension of the various agreements, echoing the position of the European Economic and Social Committee (see EUROPE 12031).
Spain’s Inmaculada Rodriguez-Piñero Fernandez (S&D) welcomed the addition of a chapter on gender equality to the agreement with Mexico, but regretted that the text didn’t go far enough, saying it should stipulate that it should be of benefit to men as well as women, urging the parties to review this aspect. Rodriguez-Piñero Fernandez noted the challenge of the Mexican elections in early July and the need to make progress before then.
Austria’s Karoline Graswander-Hainz (S&D) said human rights should be at the centre of the treaty with Mercosur, whose sustainable development chapter should contain binding measures. Each failure should lead to sanctions, she said.
Obsolescent mandates
Germany’s Nadja Hirsch (ADLE) said there were gaps when it comes to SMEs and the digital economy in all three negotiated agreements, calling for the regulations on the protection of personal data to be included. Hirsch also brought up the question of the alleged obsolescence of the negotiating mandate for the talks with Mercosur, a mandate granted to the Commission in 1999.
Gabriel Felbermayr, an expert from Munich University, backed Hirsch’s idea, noting that the economic situation had changed over the past twenty years and it would be preferable to update mandates, as has been done for Chile and Mexico. Hrda said, however, that the parties demonstrated ‘inventiveness’ for succeeding in the talks. (Original version in French by Mathieu Solal, stage)