The President of the European Commission, Ursula Van der Leyen, has landed in Latin America, with the intention of concluding the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. This is what she herself tweeted at 11:45 a.m.:
“Landing in Latin America. The finalization of the EU-Mercosur agreement is in sight. Let’s work, let’s cross it. We have the opportunity to create a market of 700 million people. The largest trade and investment partnership the world has ever known. Both regions will benefit,” she wrote.
“The agreement is not concluded, the final political negotiations now open”, the European Commission told La Tribune.
France opposed
This announcement comes at a time when in France both the President of the Republic and the Barnier government, now resigned, the Senate and the National Assembly have expressed their opposition to this agreement “as is”, and affirmed to work to ensure that it will not be concluded soon.
Mercosur: states for, against and those who still need to be convinced
French farmers are, in fact, fiercely opposed to it. All the agricultural unions demonstrated to obtain its abandonment.
Lire: Mercosur, a common front between very divided agricultural unions
« (…) since Emmanuel Macron is now the sole legitimate representative of the State, we consider that it is his sole responsibility to prevent the signing of the Mercosur », tweeted again yesterday evening Arnaud Rousseau, president of the main agricultural union (FNSEA).
A possible announcement on Saturday
In Montevideo, capital of Uruguay, a summit of the member countries of the Common Market of the South has been held since yesterday and until Saturday: l’Argentinethe Boliviathe Brazilthe Paraguay and theUruguay. The visit of the President of the European Commission to attend is in itself a sign of her determination to announce a conclusion of the free trade treaty. If this were to happen during this summit, it would probably be tomorrow, the European Commission having today also announced that on Saturday Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Paris for the reopening of Notre-Dame.
The subject of the latest negotiations remains unknown, but they should not concern the agricultural component, finalized in 2019.
Lire: Mercosur: Brussels refuses to review the agricultural component
Still the possibility of a blocking minority
After the political conclusion, a phase of translation and legal validation would begin. Then, the agreement would have to be approved by the Council of the European Union by qualified majority, and then by the European Parliament. France would therefore still theoretically have the possibility of finding a “blocking minority”. And the outcome of a vote in the European Parliament also remains uncertain, the choice of deputies today depending more on their Paris of origin than on their political affiliation.
But the official announcement of a political conclusion of the agreement would undoubtedly make it more difficult to stop its progress afterwards.
