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  • 28-01-2021 10:05

EU/Presidency: Mercosur trade agreement needs 'clarifications' not reopening of negotiations - minister


Brussels, Jan. 28, 2021 (Lusa) – The Portuguese chair of the Council of the European Union believes that "legitimate questions" raised about the trade agreement with Mercosur can be safeguarded by "clarifications" rather than the reopening of negotiations, the Foreign Minister said on Thursday.

Addressing the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade to present the priorities of the Portuguese presidency in this area, Augusto Santos Silva, who was unsurprisingly confronted by several MEPs with issues relating to the trade agreement with Mercosur countries, said that "the presidency is very aware of the legitimate issues raised by the agreement with Mercosur, in particular deforestation, the preservation of biodiversity and some climate-related aspects".

"We have the negotiations concluded. The chair's view is that it is not possible to reopen the negotiations, but it is possible to clarify the text, it is possible to clarify the compromises, which can respond well to all the legitimate questions that have been raised about deforestation, biodiversity, climate action, food safety, compliance with European standards, and that is what we will work on in close liaison with the European Commission and always very attentive to the proposals and the scrutiny of the European Parliament," he assured.

Reiterating that, from the point of view of the Portuguese chairmanship of the EU Council, "the agreement with Mercosur is of fundamental strategic, geopolitical and economic importance for the EU".

He insisted that the presidency's intention was "to make progress in finalising the agreement", which still had to be ratified, which he considered fundamental even for the sake of maintaining Europe's credibility "in the ongoing negotiations with other partnerships".

"We actively support the exercise launched by the European Commission, which consists not in reopening the agreement with Mercosur, but in identifying necessary additional commitments, working with Mercosur countries to that end. Clarifications are needed, additional commitments are needed, and the chair will support the European Commission in the work it is doing," he said.

He told MEPs that from the contacts he had already had with his "colleagues from Mercosur countries", he concluded that "he felt that Mercosur too is well aware of the need for these additional clarifications" and wanted to work with the EU to achieve "a good result".

Last week, addressing the European Parliament, Prime Minister António Costa had also argued that the Mercosur agreement is an agreement "for the geopolitics of Europe" and will serve to ensure that the Atlantic does not lose its "importance".

"The debate on Mercosur is not primarily an economic debate. Of course, we all know that it is the most important economic agreement that Europe can conclude. But it is first and foremost an agreement for Europe's geopolitics because in this new global world, the Atlantic cannot lose its importance by letting the new centralisation of the world focus on the Indo-Pacific," the Prime Minister said in a debate on 20 January.

The trade agreement, reached in June 2019 between the EU and the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), after two decades of negotiations, is expected to come into force later this year and it is now up to the European countries to ratify it.

However, several member states, MEPs and civil society organisations have expressed strong reservations about the ratification of the agreement, as they have concerns about its compatibility with compliance with the Paris agreement and the impact it will have on global warming, pointing among several problems to deforestation in the Amazon.

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