Julio García-Aquí Europa
The Spanish Presidency of the European Union (EU) yesterday expressed its confidence that a trade agreement can be closed with the Mercosur countries this semester and ready for signature in the first part of 2024.
Upon his arrival at the informal meeting that the European Trade Ministers held yesterday in Valencia, the acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, Héctor Gómez, declared that “the conditions are in place to close this agreement.”
Furthermore, he explained that the Spanish Presidency “is in permanent contact”, with weekly communications, with the European partners and with the South American countries that make up Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) to “try to reach meeting points between the differences already known.”
The Spanish Minister of Commerce acknowledged that the rotating Presidency of the EU “is aware that the countries of the Union have shown different considerations regarding this agreement” and that we must try to “reach meetings together between the already known differences.” in clear allusion, mainly, to France.
“After 20 years we are aware of the existing difficulties, until now we have not opened the agreement,” said Gómez, who stressed that “there are possibilities of closing it.” “The aspects that right now stress the closing of the Mercosur agreement” are those that have to be closed in this semester, he stated.
As he said, Spain “remains optimistic, optimistic, but aware that it will certainly be next semester when we can definitively sign with Mercosur.”
For his part, the French Minister of Foreign Trade, Olivier Becht, stated, upon arrival at the informal meeting, that “we need more time to reach an agreement and be sure that we have these environmental guarantees, it is very important that we have it.”
Becht was thus referring to the environmental issues linked to agriculture that his country wants to include in the trade pact with those four South American countries, and that they have already rejected and considered a “red line” for his interests.
Likewise, Becht referred to other conditions on the part of France regarding the South American bloc, such as “fair competition and respect for the environmental and health standards that we already impose on our own companies and producers in Europe.”
The European Trade Ministers, in addition to addressing the status of the negotiation of their agreement with Mercosur, have reviewed the situation of other bilateral agreements with Latin American countries such as Chile and Mexico, as well as those that have yet to be closed with Australia or India, among others.
