Treaty will eliminate tariffs on more than 90% of trade between the two blocs
With the approval of Paraguay this Tuesday (17), the Mercosur ratified the free trade agreement with the European Union. With 57 votes in favor, the Paraguayan lower house concluded the parliamentary ratification of the pact, which creates the largest free trade zone in the world between the 27 States of the European Union and the founding members of Mercosur: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.
“We are facing a historic document”, stated during the debate the Paraguayan government deputy Juan Manuel Añazco, responsible for the Foreign Relations Commission, highlighting that 93% of the bloc’s exports will enter Europe without paying tariffs. He also mentioned quotas for products such as organic sugar, biofuels and pork.
The parliaments of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay had already ratified the agreement, which had been negotiated since 1999 and was signed in January, in Asunción. The treaty will eliminate tariffs on more than 90% of trade between the two blocswhich together represent 30% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product and more than 700 million consumers.
The European Union announced in February that it will provisionally apply the trade agreement with Mercosur pending the decision of Europe’s highest court on the legality of the pact. Ratification of the treaty was frozen after the European Parliament referred it to the Court of Justice of the European Union to analyze its legality, a process that could take around a year and a half.
The treaty faces resistance in several European countries, led by France, due to the impact that the gigantic free trade zone could have on their agriculture and livestock.
*AFP
