The EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis has canceled a trip to Brazil to finalize the bloc’s historic trade deal with the South American group of Mercosur countries as prospects of completing the deal fade. The EU trade manager should have been a Rio de Janeiro for a meeting of the Mercosur states Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay on December 7th. Macron had already expressed his uncertainty about the conclusion of the agreement yesterday after a meeting with Brazilian President Lula at the UN climate summit COP28.
“I am against the Mercosur agreement with the European Union. It is a completely contradictory agreement. I cannot ask our farmers, our industrialists in France, but also across Europe, to commit to applying new rules for decarbonization and then suddenly say: “I will abolish all tariffs to import products that do not apply these rules. “Plus the new Argentine president Javier Milei He has already criticized the Mercosur bloc as protectionist. The next few days coincide with the end of Brazil’s term as Mercosur’s rotating presidency, as Paraguayan President Santiago Peña warned that Mercosur could leave if the EU does not finalize the deal by December 6. There are two open questions: equal competition in public procurement and environmental requirements. Both face Lula’s Brazil.
Paolo Manzo, December 3, 2023
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