Ursula von der Leyen as Emmanuel Macron
700 million people. It is “the largest trade and investment partnership the world has ever seen”. Von de Leyen arrived in Uruguay to celebrate the EU – Mercosur pact, 20 years later.
In the coming days, a partnership will be signed between the countries of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — and the European Union.
“I landed in Latin America [no Uruguai, em Montevideu]. The goal of the EU-Mercosur agreement is in sight, let’s work, let’s cross it”, wrote the president of the European Commission in . The agreement is expected to be signed todayFriday, says .
Ursula Von der Leyen highlighted in the same publication that the community and Latin American bloc now have “the opportunity to create a market of 700 million people“, in the “largest trade and investment partnership the world has ever seen” and from which “both regions will benefit”.
Economists, according to Reuters, estimate that the agreement could eliminate 4 billion euros of customs duties per year.
Emmanuel Macronone of the biggest critics of the trade pact, told the president of the European Commission yesterday that the draft understanding is “unacceptable”.
According to the France is firmly opposed to the EU signing the agreement with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, stating that the French farmers would face unfair competition which would harm their livelihoods.
French farmers guarantee to be limited by restrictions on certain insecticides, herbicides, GMO seeds and other products that South American competitors are free to use.
“The project for an agreement between the EU and Mercosur is unacceptable in its current state,” the French president told von der Leyen this week. “We continue to tirelessly defend our agricultural sovereignty”, in X.
France’s position also has the support from Poland, but other important EU members, including the Germany and Spain are in favor of the agreement.
Dialogues to create the pact have, in fact, been going on for 20 years. However, it was only in 2019 that negotiators agreed on a version of the pact.
Now, a final agreement has been reached, and the French president will literally be watching ships — ships with imports from the Americas, of course.
