Wojciechowski: “Commission continues negotiations with Mercosur”

Brussels – EU-Mercosur, the free trade agreement, is not questioned. The EU executive has only put the trade negotiation on standby after farmers’ protests but does not intend to abandon it. On this, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, wants to be clear: “The Commission continues negotiations with Mercosur to ensure that the agreement meets the EU’s sustainability objectives,” he says in his response to a parliamentary question signed by Eugenia Rodríguez Palop (The Left). The aim is, therefore, to give a signal to a European farming world on the warpath, but without giving up the chance to boost the 12-star economy and its agri-food excellence. The commission wants to get it right. So far, the von der Leyen team has tried to push on the accelerator for an agreement which is considered strategic. In 2017, the previous European Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker wanted to start the negotiation from an anti-Donald Trump perspective, the former U.S. president now seeking a second term.

Wojciechowski defends the work of the current commission, arguing that with what has been agreed so far, Brussels has “reconciled the need to make significant concessions to our partners with the imperative to safeguard the interests of European farmers.” creating possibilities for “important export opportunities for European agri-food products such as dairy products, processed foods, wines, spirits, and potatoes.” However, Europe’s whole new focus on sustainability issues seems to be a game changer. The launch of the Green Deal is now calling for new requirements on trade as well, which have been criticized in South America, where on production processes there has been, so far, a critical response, especially from Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil, which for his entire term (2019-2023) has effectively blocked the implementation of the agreement the two sides had found on June 28, 2019.

Farmers want to be sure that the standards imposed by European legislation in terms of production do not become a discriminating and penalizing factor in terms of competition with South American producers, who are not subject to the constraints of the Green Deal. The commission must find the right balance to save more than a decade of negotiations with the countries of the bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, plus the suspended Venezuela) and stop the tractor march. It is in this spirit that work is being done. Wojciechowski, indeed, is clear: “It goes on.” The EU-Mercosur negotiations remain an open dossier and are on the table.