Representatives of several South American and European Union nations signed the E.U.-Mercosur trade agreement on Saturday in Paraguay, but final approval is still months away. Photo by Juan Pablo Pino/EPA
Jan. 17 (UPI) — Representatives of the European Union and South American nations signed a free trade agreement on Saturday, but it won’t be official until approved by the European Parliament.
The free trade agreement would support trade between Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, collectively called “Mercosur,” and E.U. member nations, but the E.U.’s parliamentarians could reject it.
Mercosur is a Spanish acronym that is short for “Southern Common Market,” and the European Parliament might take months to ratify the agreement, if it does at all, some European officials have warned.
E.U. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa participated in the signing ceremony held in Asuncion, Paraguay, along with representatives of the four South American nations subject to the agreement.
If ratified by the E.U., the deal would affect more than 700 million people in Europe and South America, but it still has significant opposition to overcome.
Officials in France and Poland are especially averse to the free trade agreement, which they said could place their domestic farmers and producers of beef and poultry food products at a competitive disadvantage to agricultural goods produced in South American nations that have more lax regulations, EuroNews reported
Opponents also say the deal could lead to increased deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and other environmentally sensitive areas.
Many French and European farmers displayed their objections to the trade agreement by entering Brussels and Paris on their tractors and other farm implements in December to protest the proposed deal.
An initial agreement was reached late last year after roughly 25 years of effort to reach its current status, and recent tariff policies announced by U.S. President Donald Trump have made the E.U.-Mercosur trade agreement more viable, according to leaders on both sides of the agreement.
Domestic political issues in France also are weakening opposition to the trade agreement there, and a former E.U. trade negotiator told The Washington Post that a consensus no longer is needed among the 27 E.U. member states regarding the trade agreement.
“Other member states were of the view that we cannot really delay this much further,” Ignacio Garcia Bercero said. “There would be a huge loss of credibility for the European Union if it cannot go ahead at this time.”
The current global political climate makes it more important for the deal to be approved as the United States and China become more aggressive in promoting their respective global economic and political goals, he added.
