EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is postponing her plans to sign the trade agreement with the South American Mercosur states until January. Von der Leyen told the EU heads of state and government on Thursday at the summit in Brussels, as a Commission spokeswoman confirmed on Thursday evening. Brazil had previously shown itself open to a postponement.
Von der Leyen actually wanted to sign the EU’s free trade agreement with the Mercosur states Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay at a summit in Brazil on Saturday. However, it needs the green light from the Council of 27 EU countries, where a blocking minority from France, Italy, Poland and Hungary has so far emerged.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Thursday he was prepared to give the EU, which is divided over the issue, further time to think about it at Italy’s request. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked him for “one week, ten days, a maximum of one month” to think about it, after which Italy would be ready to sign, Lula told journalists.
Italy wants more time to think about it
Italy’s vote is considered decisive because the other states are unlikely to change their minds. Meloni does not categorically reject the agreement, but rejected signing it this week. The Italian government is “ready to sign the agreement as soon as farmers get the necessary answers,” her office said on Thursday. These could be “determined in a short period of time”.
The Italian government has now announced that it is ready to sign the Mercosur agreement as soon as farmers are given the necessary answers. “These depend on the decisions of the European Commission and can be specified quickly,” it said. Meloni did not say exactly what answers Italy needs from the EU Commission.
On Wednesday, representatives of EU countries and the European Parliament agreed on additional protective clauses for agriculture in order to enable the agreement to be concluded.
In the event of a harmful increase in imports from the Mercosur countries Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina or an excessive fall in prices for EU producers, countermeasures should be able to be taken quickly. Part of the agreement is also that the EU Commission will publish a statement in which it promises greater harmonization of production standards for imported products. Farmers fear, for example, that they will be exposed to disproportionate competition from the Mercosur countries, as farmers there can produce under different conditions. Thousands demonstrated against the agreement in Brussels on Thursday, some of them violent.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) pushed for a quick conclusion at the EU summit in Brussels, as did Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his Portuguese counterpart Luís Montenegro. French President Emmanuel Macron, however, cemented his rejection.
