Opening remarks by Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič at the European Parliament Plenary session on the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement
“Check against delivery”
Dear Chair,
Honourable Members of the European Parliament.
It is a pleasure to be here this morning to discuss the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement with you. This has been a busy Plenary week, and it has been my honour to address the House from this podium several times. On each occasion, it has been necessary to frame our dialogue in terms of the world that Europe finds itself in today:
A world of increasing global competition, a rise in unfair economic practices, and a more complex and uncertain geopolitical reality. In the face of this, the European Union’s network of Free Trade Agreements, the world’s largest, is a vital asset in ensuring we can maintain our economic edge.
It opens up markets around the world to our companies, providing drivers for growth and innovation, and helping our industry retain and regain its competitiveness. And these agreements are mutually beneficial, with the EU being a trusted trading partner in a rules-based system.
We only need to look to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agrement between the EU and Canada to see the real word benefits. At a time when the old world order in global trade is being shaken up, it is more important than ever to grow this FTA network.
This growth can contribute to our over-arching efforts to de-risk via trade diversification, and ensure our long-term industrial competitiveness.
The EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement is a vital element of this effort, and a sign of our commitment to the Latin American region. The conclusion of negotiations strengthens our political and economic ties, giving EU companies a first-mover advantage in a region where trade with China is dominant – for instance, China is the main exporter to and importer from Brazil.
The Agreement will provide continuity, stability and predictability in our trade relations. And it highlights that regional blocs can commit to shared values and deliver concrete results for the mutual benefit of our citizens.
Above all, the Agreement is an economic win-win for the EU.
It offers export opportunities to the fifth biggest global economic bloc outside the EU, with 273 million potential consumers. Our exports to Mercosur already amount to EUR 84 billion, with EU investment in the region of some EUR 340 billion.
But with the Agreement, we can now strengthen this trade and investment relationship even further.
For example, it will enable EU exporters to save over EUR 4 billion in customs duties every year, eliminating tariffs on key commodities like cars (currently 35%), machinery (20%), chemicals (18%), and pahramaceuticals (14%).
Mercosur countries can become one of our best sources of critical raw materials, thereby increasing our resilience by diversifying our supply chains.
And I can assure you that the deal reached in Montevideo in December is not only a good deal, but a new deal, different and better than the one agreed in 2019.
We have secured several negotiated outcomes that respond to our sustainability concerns while preserving the EU’s sensitivities.
By including the Paris Agreement on Climate Change as an essential element, the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement sends a strong message in support of multilateral cooperation on climate change.
This allows for a partial or total suspension if a Party leaves the Paris Agreement, or if it undermines it from within.
The Agreement also contains legally binding commitments to take measures to halt deforestation as of 2030.
Importantly, the agreement provides a critical platform of cooperation with Mercosur countries on our common sustainability ambitions, with strong commitments on labour and the environment.
In addition, we have reached a balanced outcome on agri-food trade, considerably improving market access for many EU agri-food products while striking a cautious balance.
In sectors where our interests are more sensitive, we negotiated clear and well-calibrated tariff quotas amounting to a very small percentage of EU consumption (not more than 1.5% of beef, for example), as well as a gradual implementation to market opening over several years.
The Commission will monitor market developments closely after the agreement is implemented, particularly with regard to the agricultural sector, to ensure that the partnership with Mercosur does not negatively affect the competitiveness of European farmers.
In case of an imbalance, we will impose safeguards to protect our sensitive sectors.
And to ensure that agriculture producers are full protected, President Von der Leyen has announced that at least EUR 1 billion will be available to address any unforeseen circumstances.
As a last point on Mercosur, we know that EU consumers care about the quality and safety of their food.
And health and consumer protection was never, and will never be, up for negotiation.
Already today, agricultural products imported from the Mercosur countries – and from any other third country, with or without trade agreements – must comply with the EU’s strict SPS standards.
Honourable Members.
I know how important openness and cooperation on trade issues is to this House. Indeed, it came up in our debate on trade and preparedness on Tuesday.
So I want to underline that I have already engaged on Mercosur with the INTA Committee, and with the AGRI Comitte together with Commissioner Hansen, as well as with different working groups.
This is an ongoing dialogue, and I want to assure you that we will continue to listen to your concerns, provide you with factual answers, and ensure your views are taken into account moving forward.
I will stop there, and I look forward to our exchanges.
Source – EU Commission
ECR rejects unfair terms in Mercosur, demands better deal for EU farmers
Strasbourg, 13 February 2025
The European Conservatives and Reformists Group has called for more concessions for European farmers in the debate on the state of play of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. “Today, this agreement is still too unbalanced and too punitive for our agriculture. And we cannot support it under these conditions,” said Carlo Fidanza, ECR coordinator in the Agriculture Committee. Fidanza admitted that Mercosur had many advantages in terms of geopolitical motives and undeniable opportunities for growth in many sectors. But the trade deal would hurt European farmers, whose competitiveness is already weakened by “stifling bureaucracy and an unbalanced distribution of profitability along supply chains”. In particular, European farmers would be severely disadvantaged by laxer production conditions in South America.
“It is true that the lack of reciprocity, the guarantee that South American producers can continue to use pesticides that we have long banned, the lack of reliable on-the-spot checks on health standards and against counterfeiting, and the European customs procedures for imports in many European ports tip the balance in favour of the legitimate and well-founded concerns of the farming community,” said Fidanza, explaining why the ECR could not support the Mercosur deal at this stage.
“A safeguard clause that is difficult to activate or the one billion euros earmarked for compensation will not be enough to reassure our producers”, concluded Fidanza.
Source – ECR Group (by email)