Reopening negotiations of the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement to incorporate the European Commission’s new approach to the chapters on sustainable development (TSD) (see EUROPE 12977/13), “would be opening a Pandora box”, warned Dora Correia from DG Trade at the European Commission.
During an exchange in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) of the European Parliament on 8 September, many MEPs have asked for news on the EU-Mercosur agreement. For them, the European Commission presented an ambitious plan in June to strengthen the obligations of TSD chapters in trade agreements, and this should be implemented with Mercosur countries.
The European Commission does not share this view. For them, the negotiations with the Mercosur countries have lasted long enough; wanting to include this new approach is to take the risk of never concluding the discussions nor of seeing the agreement enter into force. “For us, the most important thing is to see changes on the ground and for that, we need an agreement in force. Let’s go for the conclusion of the agreement, surely with additional sustainability instruments”, said Ms. Correia.
The same goes for the two agreements that are under negotiation with Chile and Mexico, which are ready to be signed. “Reopening these agreements now would risk losing the negotiated outcome and have undue and unnecessary delay”. Instead, the European Commission proposes to use the revision clauses of the agreements to integrate, at this time, the new approach on the sustainable development chapters. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)