On Friday 28 June, negotiations on the commercial side of an association agreement between the EU and the Mercosur bloc (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay) were concluded after 20 years of a turbulent saga.
These talks, launched in 1999 and relaunched in 2016, will finally have been successfully concluded (see EUROPE 12282/10).
" Mercosur trade deal done! A historical moment!", Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, rejoiced on his Twitter account. He went on to say: "In the midst of international trade tensions, we are sending a strong signal that we stand for rules-based trade", recalling that this is the "largest trade agreement ever concluded by the Union".
After a week of intense technical negotiations, followed by negotiations at ministerial level, compromises were identified on the most sensitive issues, mainly agricultural: on the European side, the aim was to ensure access to the South American market for European cars, dairy products and maritime services, while protecting the EU's geographical indications; on the Mercosur side, to obtain quotas for their beef, poultry, sugar and ethanol exports.
For Europeans, it was also imperative to ensure that their South American partners, in particular Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, did not renege on their climate commitments and undertook to respect European standards, not only in terms of the environment, but also sanitary and phytosanitary standards.
As this newsletter went to press, the details of the final agreement were not yet known; EUROPE will revert to it in its next edition. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)