The EU has delayed the signing of a free-trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc of countries.
Lat night (18 December), president of the European Commisssion Ursula von der Leyen confirmed the EU had agreed to delay signing the deal with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, to January.
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“We need a few extra weeks to address some issues with member states,” she said in a statement.
“We have reached out to our Mercosur partners and agreed to postpone slightly the signature.”
The agreement has recently seen opposition from Italy and France.
The trade deal, originally agreed in 2019 after more than 20 years of negotiation, has faced repeated delays due to resistance from several EU member states, including Ireland and France.
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By GlobalDataA “political agreement” was reached between the EU and the Mercosur bloc in December last year.
If ratified, the deal would establish the “world’s biggest free trade zone”, encompassing a market of over 700 million people, according to the Commission.
“This deal is of crucial importance for Europe – economically, diplomatically and geopolitically,” von der Leyen insisted on Thursday.
“It opens new trade and economic opportunities for all our Member States.
“With additional checks and safeguards, we have built in all necessary protections for our farmers and our consumers.”
Yesterday, the European Parliament and Council negotiators also informally agreed on agriculture “safeguards” which intend to protect EU farmers.
Both parties have agreed to tougher rules around imports of goods from the Mercosur bloc, which could see the Commission temporarily suspending tariff-free imports on “sensitive” agricultural goods, including poultry, beef, sugar, eggs or citrus products if imports are viewed as harming European producers.
Under the agreed measures, “an investigation into suspending preferential tariffs” would be triggered by a rise in import volume of over 8% or a slump in prices of more than 8% compared to a three-year average.
The Commission could also choose to monitor “non-sensitive products” if requested by the local industry.
As it stands, the provisional agreement still requires “formal adoption” from both Parliament and Council before it can officially enter law.
In September, the Commission had originally tabled to temporarily suspend or reduce tariff concessions if import levels rose by over 10%.
In September, a group of EU agri-food organisations criticised the proposed safeguard mechanisms, expressing concern that the deal could drive up competition and lower prices and product standards.
At the time, nine organisations, including principal EU farming lobby Copa-Cogeca and AVEC, representing the poultry sector, claimed the EC’s package still “falls short”.
While this initiative clarifies certain aspects of safeguard implementation, critical questions remain over how such a unilateral legal act would be voted on, enforced, and accepted by Mercosur countries as a binding commitment by the Commission,” a statement read.
