After 25 years of negotiations, the green light has been given to the free trade agreement between the European Union and the South American common market of which Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay are members.
Mercosur agreement, Italy in favor and France against: what changes for European agriculture
The agreement, which is expected to create the largest free trade area in the world with around 700 million citizens involved, represents a significant geopolitical victory for Brussels, especially at a time of China’s growing presence and influence in Latin America.
Five countries against the agreement, Italy’s ok
The split in Europe also emerged due to the vote on the treaty. A qualified majority of EU member states approved the trade agreement, but France, Poland, Austria, Ireland and Hungary expressed their opposition, while Belgium abstained. Italy voted in favour, after Prime Minister Meloni welcomed Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal to guarantee, in the next multi-year budget, the availability of using additional resources for farmers as early as 2028, instead of waiting for the mid-term review. This is around 45 billion euros that can be mobilized immediately to support farmers.
What happens now?
What are the next steps now? After the formal approval which will arrive in the afternoon, the president of the European Commission will fly to Paraguay to sign the agreement on behalf of the EU on 12 January. Subsequently, the European Parliament will have to express its consent, which could arrive in the next plenary session in Strasbourg on 20 January. The agreements can therefore enter into provisional application after ratification by at least one Mercosur country, and will remain valid until the ratification process is completed in the 27 EU member states and in the countries of the South American bloc.
What led Italy to vote in favor of the agreement
Italy, which was part of the “no” camp at the last European Council in December, had asked for greater reflection on some points of the agreement.
At the time of the vote it joined the favorable front with Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the Scandinavian countries.
The EU allocates 45 billion for farmers to push Meloni to vote in favor of Mercosur
The Italian government led by Giorgia Meloni would be pushed to support the agreement also thanks to the overcoming of the last hurdle for the protection of agricultural products: the lowering of the threshold to trigger investigations due to possible market disturbances, which went from 8% to 5%. This is an escape clause, which provides for the suspension of the agreement if imports of certain sensitive agricultural products from Mercosur countries exceed this threshold.
Reversing in the end-of-year conference, the Prime Minister commented on the vote for the agreement: “I have never had an ideological preclusion on Mercosur, I have always posed a pragmatic question that does not only concern Mercosur: the European strategy of hyper-regulating within it, opening up, at the same time, to free trade agreements is suicidal. I am for free trade agreements but also for deregulation”. The yes to the Mercosur agreement came “in light of the guarantees” obtained for our farmers”, specified Meloni.
The tractors return to the streets to protest the agreement
Meanwhile, in France as in Belgium the tractors have returned to protest. Road blocks, demonstrations in front of ministries and slow marches are paralyzing access to the French capital, while in Belgium farmers are concentrated around Brussels, in the political heart of the Union.
Even in Milan, farmers took to the streets to block traffic with their vehicles, as a sign of protest against the free trade agreement with Mercosur. The mobilization was called by Coapi and Riscattoagricoltura Lombardia against the signing of the treaty which “encourages speculation and punishes European and South American farmers and citizens”. A large demonstration is also expected in Strasbourg where the last formal passage of the agreement should take place with the plenary vote on January 20th.
