On Tuesday 10 July, José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra (EPP, Spain), the European Parliament's rapporteur on the trade talks between the EU and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), called for "mobilisation at the political level" in order to conclude an agreement swiftly.
Reporting on the latest developments in the international trade committee, Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra said he hoped that sufficient progress would be made at the technical level talks that opened in Brussels on Monday 9 July to be able to reach an agreement at a possible EU-Mercosur meeting on the sidelines of the EU-Latin America and Caribbean foreign affairs ministers ' meeting in Brussels on 16-17 July.
"The Mercosur ministers will be there. If progress is made on the 45 files that are open, we will be able to succeed. Work remains to be done on the technical level, but the main part is mobilisation at the political level. It seems that there is the political will for this. The possibility of arriving at a balanced and ambitious agreement is through political mobilisation", he underlined.
According to the latest report from the EU's chief negotiator, Sandra Gallina, "90% of the negotiations are settled, and the remaining 10% are linked to the complex issue of cars, geographical indications, and the concessions still expected by the EU on maritime transport and access to the market for dairy products", Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra stated, highlighting the EU's "important demands" on the rules of origin for cars.
As regards geographical indications, the negotiators have found common ground for the protection of over 300 EU denominations out of over 350, which it would like to protect on the South American market, he said.
A passionate supporter of an agreement, Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra said "there should not be any concern about environmental standards" on which a great deal of work "carried out rigorously by the Commission has enabled specific questions to be deepened".
"What is really at stake is that this agreement will launch a clear signal in favour of free trade against protectionist temptations. European businesses pay over €4 million every year in customs duties in Mercosur countries", he said. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)