The historic free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) was announced in early December, after 25 years of negotiation. However, the understanding is threatened by opposition from some European countries.
France is one of the EU nations that has most strongly demonstrated its discontent with the agreement. On the eve of the announcement between the blocs, President Emmanuel Macron’s office highlighted that it could not accept it in its current form.
The explanation, in part, for the fear of countries like France is that cheaper agricultural imports could harm the domestic agricultural sector. In fact, farmers did so during the negotiations, which was intensified with the imminence of the agreement.
Days before the announcement,
“Poland does not accept, and we are not alone… we will not accept in this way the agreement with the South American countries, which is the Mercosur group, on free trade”, declared Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the end of November.
Ireland, in turn, indicated caution about the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, with Peter Burke, the country’s Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, indicating concern and, once again, citing agribusiness as a possible obstacle.
“I expressed my concerns about possible unintended consequences of the Mercosur agreement,” he commented.
“Farmers have invested significant resources in sustainability and we must expect the same high standards for all products entering the market to ensure a level playing field, a concept that is at the heart of the EU,” he added.
In recent weeks, the CEO of Carrefour in France. At the time, there was a strong reaction from Brazil, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) highlighted the safety of our products.”
And more recently, Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni,
“In the absence of a rebalancing (of the terms of the agreement), Italy will not be on board,” said Meloni.
Other nations such as Austria and the Netherlands may also oppose the understanding.
What is needed to block the Mercosur-EU agreement?
The agreement still needs to go through European Union officials.
After this process, it needs to be submitted to the European Council – a body that brings together the heads of government of member countries.
For a vote to be blocked in the Council, it is necessary to reject at least four EU members representing more than 35% of the bloc’s population.
If fewer than four members oppose a vote, it will not be blocked.
The total population of the European Union, according to the bloc’s website, is more than 448 million people.
Adding the populations of Italy (58.76 million), France (68.17 million) and Poland (36.69 million), this would be equivalent to around 36.5%.
Therefore, the support of at least one other country in the bloc would be necessary, such as Ireland, which has shown caution in relation to understanding.
However, if there is no rejection by the European Council, the agreement will be sent to the European Parliament for analysis, where it needs a simple majority to be approved.
*with information from Daniel Rittner, from CNN, and Reuters
