BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) (ITALPRESS) – On Saturday, January 17 will be signed in Paraguay by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the free trade agreement between the EU and the countries of Mercosur – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay –, representing the largest free trade zone in the world. The agreement “is essential for the EU, for its economic prospects, for the creation of jobs, for the diversification of trade and is a geopolitical signal”, says a EU spokesman. The agreement has already been approved by the European Council, while in the coming weeks the Commission will cooperate with Members of the European Parliament to obtain their support before the final approval vote on the agreement. At the moment, European sources say, “no decision has been taken on the provisional application of the Mercosur Agreement”. The agreement will offer great opportunities for companies and citizens in each EU Member State, add qualified sources to Brussels. As regards the agricultural sector, “we have integrated all the necessary protections for our farmers”.
On the geopolitical-commercial level, the EU-Mercosur agreement is considered strategic for the European Union because it strengthens the network of agreements with Latin America, a key area for European exports, for access to growing markets and for the supply of raw materials necessary for the green and digital transition. From a legal and procedural point of view, tomorrow the President of the Commission von der Leyen will sign in Paraguay the two texts of the EU-Mercosur agreement, the trade agreement and the political partnership agreement. The texts will be forwarded by the Council to the European Parliament on Monday to examine them. The request for an opinion is not excluded from the Court of Justice, which would then slip the ratification of 18-24 months. If the motion for this request is rejected, Parliament’s vote would be expected between April and May.
If Parliament were to vote against it, the ratification process would stop and a political assessment would be made. But this scenario seems remote, according to qualified EU sources, and the agreement could come into effect at the end of the year. The European Court of Justice can only be judged on specific questions, such as the legal architecture of the agreement, the principle of health precaution and the mechanism of “non-vio complaintlations”. From Brussels they clarify that the trade part of the agreement does not require ratification of individual Member States, unlike the partnership agreement. Specifically, “the trade agreement is ratified by the EU, not by the individual Member States and comes into force even though only some Mercosur countries ratify, while the political partnership agreement requires ratification of all EU Member States’ parliaments and, in case of delays, can be applied provisionally.”.
Some of the most controversial aspects are the protection of food safety and the protection of European farmers. For this reason, they explain from Brussels, “a new safeguard regulation has been introduced to protect EU farmers from harmful imports” and the alert threshold has been lowered from 10% to 5%. As regards health aspects, EU rules on food safety and pesticides apply. All products, EU or imported, must comply with European health standards. The maximum residue limits (Mrl) of pesticides are established independently by the EU and are not part of the EU-Mercosur agreement. The Commission has introduced several support and protection measures for the European agricultural sector, including carefully calibrated tariff quotas for sensitive products, a new safeguard mechanism to react quickly to damage to the EU market, a financial support of 6.3 billion euros in the next multiannual financial framework and a careful protection of the geographical indications and traditional European products. Measures to protect farmers The agreement stipulates that Mercosur countries cannot request automatic compensation if the EU activates safeguards, but may resort to the dispute resolution mechanism if they believe that the EU infringes the agreement.
To protect consumers and producers, the agreement provides for controls to take place on two levels: at frontiers by the national authorities; European Commission audit in exporting countries. “In recent years, numerous audits have been carried out in Mercosur countries, particularly in Brazil, and recent meat calls show that the control system works,” says Brussels. In case of serious or persistent violations, restrictions may be imposed until the removal (delisting) of the country or operators from the list of authorized exporters. The Commission has conducted detailed economic analysis of the effects of the agreement. Potential production flows and benefits from new exports have been estimated for sensitive sectors (manzo, poultry, sugar, ethanol). For the bovine sector, for example, the estimated loss up to 2040 is approximately 342 million euros, considered manageable thanks to the planned safeguard measures. Alongside the rules to protect producers and users, sources emphasize the concrete economic benefits of the agreement, such as the gradual reduction of customs duties, immediate for some products and progressive (8-15 years) for others. For example, the car sector will enjoy strong tariff reductions from the first day for an initial share; While wine, olive oil, cheese, machinery will have a gradual liberalization. On the eve of the signing of the expected agreement tomorrow, European high-profile sources reaffirm that the EU-Mercosur agreement does not lower health and environmental standards, there are strong instruments of control, safeguard and financial support and farmers’ concerns have been addressed.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
