Commission earlier announced that it would delay signing of trade agreement until the new year due to concerns by French and Italian farmers
The European Commission is aiming to have the EU-Mercosur trade agreement signed in the near future after plans to ink the deal in December were delayed by France and Italy over concerns about the agricultural impact on EU producers. Diplomats said on Monday that the agreement could be inked on 12 January following significant progress on discussions over the past two weeks.
“I don’t have any specific date that I can confirm to you. I can confirm, however, that we’re on the right track to envisage a signing of the agreement, and we do hope that will take place quite soon,” said Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho.
According to reports, on Wednesday, 7 January, the agriculture ministers of the member states will meet for an extraordinary Council in Brussels, to give the green light to the approval of the deal, scheduled for the COREPER meeting on Friday, 9 January. Ursula von der Leyen would then fly to Latin America on 12 January, to definitively close negotiations on the trade pact, which first began 25 years ago.
The agreement would grant preferential tariffs for imports of beef, poultry, dairy products, sugar and ethanol from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, while European industrial goods would gain wider access to South American markets.
The agreement would create the world’s biggest free-trade area, boosting trade between the 27-nation EU and the bloc comprising Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.
The French government announced last week that it planned to suspend imports of foodstuffs containing substances banned in Europe, including avocados, mangoes, citrus, grapes, apples, melons, cherries and other fruits “from South America or elsewhere” according to French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
On Monday, Commission spokeswoman Eva Hrncirova said the EU was already working on establishing that the most hazardous pesticides, which are banned in the EU, are not allowed back into the trading bloc via imported products.
