Negotiations on the Mercosur agreement between the European Union and South American countries may soon resume. Such a trade agreement is urgently needed, according to new Brazilian president Lula da Silva. At a press conference in Montevideo, he advocated for more free trade between the EU and five South American countries.
The recent change of government in Brazil has raised new hopes in the European Union for the completion of the trade agreement with the four South American Mercosur countries. Recently, various EU politicians have already expressed support for amending the previously agreed treaty text.
Several EU countries have so far refused to ratify the agreement because it creates unequal competitive conditions in the meat industry. The South American livestock industry is not required to comply with the stricter rules that apply in the EU for the European meat industry.
These unequal rules focus on the environmental-technical criticism that the Mercosur countries do nothing to prevent illegal logging of rainforests. The new Brazilian president wants to add such a missing provision to the agreement. That should enable the EU countries to ratify the treaty after all.
EU Trade Commissioner Vladis Dombrovkis also sees more opportunities for the Mercosur agreement that was negotiated with the EU in 2019. "The chance has rarely been greater than now," the commissioner said earlier this week in the European Parliament's Trade Committee. Brazil is now willing to tackle an additional agreement on rainforest protection, Dombrovkis reported.
In the EU's agricultural sector, there are particular concerns about increased imports of beef from Brazil. Austria has already spoken out against the trade agreement. But European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is pushing for closer ties between democracies with similar values since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the changed geopolitical relations.