While the European Commission believes it is in a good position to close negotiations on the EU/Mercosur trade agreement (EUROPE 13527/5), the EU Member States are less optimistic about giving the green light to the proposed treaty. France seems to be succeeding in rallying valuable support in the EU Council, perhaps to achieve a blocking minority when it comes to ratifying the agreement.
“If we do it [approve the agreement] against large groups of our Member States this will not be a positive outcome for European integration”, said Poland’s Minister for Economic Development, Ignacy Niemczycki. Polish farmers are concerned about future imports from Mercosur and have made this clear to their government.
Long before Poland, concerns had also spread to Austria, whose parliament rejected the agreement from 2019. According to the Minister for Labour and the Economy, Martin Kocher, Austria will not be able to change its position until it is reassured on the issue of protecting the Amazon rainforest and supporting farmers.
“These are the conditions for a review of the Austrian position”, he said. And he added that: “I’ve always been in favour of us looking at what’s in the final text, given that the situation has changed and there are negotiations on important points”.
Even Luxembourg’s trade minister, Xavier Bettel, who is in favour of trade, expressed doubts about the prospects for the EU/Mercosur agreement: “There are guarantees that we must have and that we don’t yet have”.
The same holds true for Lithuania, a supporter of free trade agreements, which now has doubts about the future of the agreement. When questioned by Agence Europe, the Lithuanian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Simonas Šatūnas, said that the sensitivities of the various Member States had to be taken into account, even though his country did not have any particular sensitivities.
On her arrival at the EU Council, the French Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade, Sophie Primas, reiterated France’s opposition to the signing of the trade agreement. The French Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, has offered to make a statement to the National Assembly on the subject, to be followed by a debate and vote on 26 November.
Negotiations between the EU and Mercosur will take place that same week. The European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, says that it is difficult to give a precise timetable. “We need to have something correct on the content to be able to conclude”, he replied to journalists. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)