The Trade Ministers of the EU Member States will meet on Thursday 20 May in Brussels for an EU Council meeting on trade issues. On the agenda, among other things, is the approval of the EU Council conclusions on the review of EU trade policy. For the time being, Member States representatives have not agreed on the content of the document, according to several European sources.
EUROPE had access to a draft version of the conclusions dated 11 May, in which the Portuguese Presidency tries to find a compromise on several stumbling blocks.
References to “open strategic autonomy”, “overburden” of trade policy and the wording around the EU-Mercosur agreement were still problematic on the eve of the meeting, according to an EU diplomat.
A revised version of the document submitted by the Portuguese Presidency on 19 May did not bring the positions of the Member States’ representatives closer together.
On the issue of the agreement with Mercosur, for example, the EU Council considers, in the provisional version of 11 May, that it is necessary to “create the conditions for the conclusion of the agreement”.
“Some delegations do not want to mention the Mercosur agreement at all. Others think the opposite and consider the wording too weak”, an EU source told EUROPE.
Overall, representatives were divided between those who wanted a balanced language between openness and trade defence and those who preferred to keep the language more broad and open. In the draft conclusions, the EU Council considers that care should be taken “not to overburden trade and investment negotiations”. Some delegations would like to see this removed.
Some representatives would also like stronger language on the role of SMEs and the importance of sustainable development and due diligence, according to a second EU diplomat interviewed by EUROPE.
Trade Ministers will be asked to discuss these conclusions and to approve or not approve a text at the end of the meeting.
See the full agenda of the Trade Council in another news item.
See the draft conclusions: https://bit.ly/3u2PRV8 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)