Francehistorically resistant to free trade agreements, advocated, at the last meeting of trade ministers of the European Union (EU), for not rushing the negotiations with the Mercosur and continue the talks, contrary to the urgency of Spain and the regional bloc that hoped to close the treaty at the end of this year.
“We need more time to have this agreement to be sure that we can answer the questions of Mercosur and so that we can have guarantees about the environmental standards that we need. It is important that we take the necessary time,” declared the French Minister of Commerce, Olivier Bechtbefore entering the EU meeting, last Friday.
The agreement between Mercosur and the European Union has been on hold since 2019 due largely to European concerns about Amazon deforestation and the bloc’s slow response that Uruguay integrates with Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay into a European addendum that proposed environmental safeguards.
European countries have been waiting since March for the response of the Mercosur to attach commitments sustainability and climate changeand he ended up presenting a one-page counterproposal that was the basis of discussions at recent face-to-face meetings in Brasilia.
“We are negotiating every week, the dialogue is permanent,” said the Spanish Minister of Commerce, Hector Gomezwhich considered it positive that the main text of the treaty has not been reopened for review and that only the so-called “additional instrument” is being discussed.
Spain considers that sealing the agreement with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguayafter 20 years of negotiations, is a “priority objective” while he holds the rotating presidency of the EU until the end of the year.
Within the Mercosur, Uruguay and Paraguay have made clear their discomfort at the delay of the trade agreement, which would mean the opening of an important market for their goods and services.
At the last summit of heads of state of the regional bloc, held in July in Iguazú, the president Luis Lacalle Pou considered that “25 years of negotiations in the modern world is not logical.” “We know what things we have in favor, we know what things we have against, let’s clear the obstacles to be able to complete, among other things, because we need to give credibility to the particular actors so that trust is finally built,” he stated.
While the Paraguayan president Santiago Penashortly after taking office, surprised his South American partners by issuing an ultimatum for the agreement between the Mercosur and the EU.
“If there is anyone who can close the deal it is Lula (Da Silva). It will be this year or it won’t be, it will never happen,” she said in reference to the trade agreement. “Either we close before December 6 or we don’t close,” she stated bluntly.
Source: Ambito
