While French farmers are up in arms against the EU-Mercosur agreement, if signed, France and Europe would gain on several points.
“A major economic challenge and a unique opportunity.” It was with these words that journalist Patrick Cohen launched Monday evening on the set of C to you its pro-Mercosur editorial. While France firmly opposes the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur countries, namely the Southern Common Market which brings together Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, many European countries want to see the signature succeed. And for good reason, Mercosur is “the fifth economic zone in the world in economic size outside the EU”, underlines Jean-Luc Demarty, former general director of foreign trade for Europe, at Atlantico, while Patrick Cohen insisted Monday on the fact that this market, which still represents “270 million consumers”is today “very protected”. Expect 20 to 35% customs duties on manufactured products.
By signing the first – China in particular also being very interested in this market – an agreement with Mercosur, the Europeans would see their customs duties be greatly reducedand therefore their products made more accessible to Mercosur consumers. This would allow Europeans to “quickly regain market share from China which will continue to pay high customs duties”, underlines Jean-Luc Demarty, recalling that the Middle Kingdom has continued to eat away at the Europeans' market share over the last twenty years, going from 35 to 18%.
Savings on customs duties and securing certain imports
The former director general of foreign trade in Europe puts forward the figure of “four billion euros in customs duties” less for European companies and emphasizes that France could greatly benefit from this agreement since it is “one of the rare areas in the world where [elle] has a significant trade surplus [elle exporte plus qu’elle n’importe ndlr.]of the order of 4.5 billion euros in goods and services”. The automobile, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and all service activities, a sector in which France is actually a leader, would benefit from this agreement on the side of European exports French wines and cheeses would not be left out: fewer taxes, but also. an agreement regarding protected origins which would ban fake Camemberts and other fake Champagnes. Of the 350 AOP mentioned in this chapter, 60 are French, we detailed on Monday on France 5.
The signing of the EU-Mercosur agreement would also allow Europeans to secure their imports of two types of products that are essential today: soybean mealused for animal feed, and rare metals which it is now difficult to do without in electronics and digital.
While French farmers fear the opening of the European market to meat South American, the agreement states a minimal quantity : 99,000 tonnes of beef per year is half of what is currently imported from Mercosur. Some people talk about one steak per year per European. Whether it is beef, pork or chicken, these different quantities of meat could in fact not even be able to be delivered since the treaty provides that there are no hormones or antibiotics in the meat. The quality must therefore be there.
“Furthermore, we must not neglect the geopolitical dimension of this agreement in the fractured world that promises to be around for a long time”, points out Jean-Luc Demarty, who underlines that “alongside the FTA, there is also a political association agreement negotiated in parallel”.
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