Several EU and Member State representatives have visited Mercosur countries recently and all have had a word on EU-Mercosur free trade agreement, which is generating increasing impatience. The next step is the signature of the agreement, before its ratification.
“I would like to see this done before the end of the Swedish Presidency”, said European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, responsible for the Green Deal, in Mexico on 30 January. He echoed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has visited several Latin American countries in recent days and said he hoped for a “rapid conclusion” on this issue.
The Commission is rather confident, as there are “new arguments on the table”, according to Frans Timmermans.
The presence of Lula in power in Brazil is one of them, but also the fact that the Brazilian president has appointed an environment minister, Marina Silva, known for her commitment to global warming.
Still no question of reopening negotiations
“Legitimate public concerns about deforestation and sustainability issues are much better addressed by EU legislation than by conditional access to products in the single market”, according to Paolo Garzotti, responsible for the Americas in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade. He mentioned the recent regulation on imported deforestation while invited to a seminar organised by the media organisation Euractiv.
The Commission has always been opposed to reopening the negotiations for fear of undermining the balance achieved, but several politicians on the Mercosur side have pointed the finger in recent months at an agreement that they consider not fair enough. The agreement takes into account everyone’s concerns about trade flows in both directions, but “we need to sit down with the partners and make sure we agree on this”, said Paolo Garzotti.
Finally, the question of whether or not to separate the trade part of the agreement for faster ratification on the EU side (by the European Parliament only) is not yet decided, he added. For the Mercosur countries, this does not really matter, according to Brazil’s ambassador to the EU, Pedro Miguel da Costa e Silva.
This option, which was chosen for the agreement with Chile, is on the table and would not detract from the democratic legitimacy of the trade agreement, as it must be approved by the European Parliament, according to Mr Garzotti: “In such a case, it would be a perfectly legitimate expression of the European people”, he insisted. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)