Green light in the EU for Mercosur. Meloni: ‘received the guarantees’
Brussels (ANSA) – It will open a free trade market of 700 million consumers, promises to reshape import-export between the shores of the Atlantic and is presented as a weapon to contain Donald Trump’s trade war. More than a quarter of a century after its conception, the trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur is one signature away from the finish line.
The majority of member countries has given the green light, paving the way for the final seal of Ursula von der Leyen, expected on January 17 in Paraguay. A step which, in the claims of the number one at the Berlaymont building, consecrates Europe as a “reliable partner”, capable of “charting its own course”.
Unlocking the deadlock was the yes from Italy which, having obtained the latest guarantees, lifted its reservations and put its weight on the scale, allowing the decisive threshold to be reached for an agreement strongly backed by Berlin and Madrid. The Italian turning point, highlighted Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, was made possible “in light of the guarantees obtained for our farmers” which now make the balance “sustainable”.
Meeting in the morning, the ambassadors of the EU countries found the “broad support” needed to close the agreement on its two texts: the interim trade agreement (iTA) and the partnership agreement (Empa) with Mercosur. Five governments were against it – France, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Ireland – while Belgium abstained.
The decisive fine-tuning to convince Italy and pull along the European approval came on the ground of safeguards: the threshold that triggers investigations into sensitive agricultural products in the event of market disruptions is lowered from 8% to 5%.
Also reassuring Rome were the concessions obtained in recent weeks: a compensation fund of 6.3 billion euros, the strengthening of phytosanitary controls, the commitment not to increase fertilizer prices and the possibility of allocating another 45 billion euros from the next EU budget to the CAP (January 9).
