EU and Mercosur reach political agreement on groundbreaking partnership

Last week, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and her counterparts from four Mercosur countries (Brazilian President Lula, Argentinian President Milei, Paraguayan President Peña, and Uruguayan President Lacalle Pou) finalised negotiations for a groundbreaking EU-Mercosur partnership agreement.

Posted on Dec 09 ,00:15

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: "This is a win-win agreement, which will bring meaningful benefits to consumers and businesses, on both sides. We are focused on fairness and mutual benefit. We have listened to the concerns of our farmers and we acted on them. This agreement includes robust safeguards to protect your livelihoods. EU-Mercosur is the biggest agreement ever, when it comes to the protection of EU food and drinks products. More than 350 EU products now are protected by a geographical indication. In addition, our European health and food standards remain untouchable. Mercosur exporters will have to comply strictly with these standards to access the EU market. This is the reality of an agreement that will save EU companies €4 billion worth of export duties per year".

This agreement comes at a critical time for both sides, presenting opportunities for major mutual gains through strengthened geopolitical, economic, sustainability and security cooperation.

It will boost strategic trade and political ties between like-minded and reliable partners.
It will support economic growth, boost competitiveness and strengthen resilience on both sides by opening up trade and investment opportunities and securing sustainable access and processing of raw materials.
It represents a major milestone in fighting climate change with strong, specific and measurable commitments to stop deforestation.
It considers the interests of all Europeans, including the critically important EU farming sector. It will help increase EU agri-food exports while protecting sensitive sectors.
It upholds the EU's standards on animal health and food safety, preventing unsafe products from entering our market.

A boost for EU and Mercosur competitiveness and economic security

This landmark deal will:

Secure and diversify our supply chains.
Create new opportunities for all kind of businesses, by removing often prohibitive tariffs on EU exports to Mercosur.
Save EU businesses €4 billion worth of duties per year.
Ensure trade preferences in strategic net zero industry sectors such as renewable energy technologies, and low-carbon fuels.
Help small and medium enterprises export more by cutting red tape.
Secure an efficient, reliable and sustainable flow of raw materials critical for the global green transition.

An enhanced commitment on sustainability

This deal takes the EU-Mercosur sustainability commitments to the next level through:

Making the Paris Agreement an essential element of the EU-Mercosur relationship.
Concrete commitments to halt deforestation.
Clear and enforceable commitments on sustainable development, including on labour rights and sustainable management and conservation of forests.
An active role for civil society organisations to overview the implementation of the agreement, including human rights or environmental concerns.

Moreover, €1.8 billion in EU support will facilitate the fair green and digital transition in Mercosur countries, as part of the Global Gateway.

The proposed EU-Mercosur agreement is composed of a political and cooperation pillar, and a trade pillar. The end of negotiations constitutes the first step in the process towards conclusion of the agreement. The official documents will be published online over the next days.

Following final legal scrubbing by both sides, the text will be translated into all official EU languages, and then submitted to the Council and Parliament.

Mercosur-EU agreement should increase animal protein exports

The Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) celebrated the announcement of the conclusion and signing of the Agreement between the member countries of Mercosur and the European Union, made today during the Mercosur summit, in Montevideo.

The agreement establishes a new quota for chicken meat exports totaling 180,000 tons of carcass equivalent (50% with bone and 50% boneless) with a zero tariff for shipment to the European Union, which will be shared by the Mercosur member countries. The quota must be reached over a period of 6 years (for example: 30,000 tons in the first year, 60,000 tons in the second, until reaching a total of 180,000 tons). After this period, the quota will be 180,000 tons per year.

There is also a quota for pork, totaling 25 thousand tons (following the same gradual system determined for chicken meat, over 6 years) with a tariff of 83 euros per ton.

For the president of ABPA, Ricardo Santin, the agreement should further strengthen the relationship between exporters from Mercosur countries and European consumers.

"The consolidation of the agreement opens up new opportunities for shipments to the European market, under more advantageous conditions than the quotas currently in place for shipments of Brazilian products to the European Union. The current quotas will be maintained, and the new quotas established by the agreement should be occupied, in particular, by exports of Brazilian products.

Between January and November of this year, Brazil exported 205 thousand tons of chicken meat to the European Union, generating revenues of US$749.2 million for the country.