There is movement again in the Mercosur negotiations

For months it was quiet about the Mercosur trade agreement between the EU and South America. Now the negotiations are moving again: In the spring, the EU made requests for improvements to the trade agreement that has been on hold since 2019. After a long wait, a response from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay arrived last week.

The four countries accept the requests for improvements in principle, but they insist on restrictions and make counter-demands: On the one hand, they are demanding financial help to make the supply chains sustainable and to meet the EU’s high standards. On the other hand, they are not prepared to accept sanctions for violations of the sustainability and climate protection requirements of the additional declaration. The imposition of sanctions should not even be hinted at. Such sanctions are primarily called for by critics of the agreement.

This would mean that the additional protocol would fall far short of the demands of environmentalists, but also of states such as Austria and France. As reported, they view the agreement critically and have so far blocked it.

But there are also dissenting voices: after the EU Commission and Germany, Spain also called for an early conclusion yesterday. This would create the world’s largest free trade area with more than 700 million people. Spain currently holds the EU Council Presidency and would like to ratify it by the end of the year. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares recalled that the region has 33 votes in the United Nations, 66 percent of the world’s lithium reserves, 60 percent of global biodiversity, 50 percent of primary forests and 14 percent of world food production. He showed understanding for the concerns of his opponents.

Warning against going it alone

In Austria, which is pushing for strict requirements to protect farmers, there was criticism yesterday: the non-governmental organization “Anders Handel” warned that the EU Commission could undermine the consent of the member states with a “procedural trick”. The Commission is planning to decide on the economic part of the agreement separately from the political part and thus bypass approval, criticized the organization Attac.