The EU trade agreement with Mercosur will be signed on January 17 in Paraguay
The association agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) will be signed on January 17 in Asunción, capital of Paraguay, a country that holds the rotating presidency of the South American blocThe Foreign Minister of Paraguay, Rubén Ramírez, confirmed this Friday.
“In conversation with my colleagues, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, we have agreed that this signing will take place next Saturday, January 17 in Asunción, Paraguay,” Ramírez said in a telematic press conference. The decision was made after this Friday a most EU governments gave the approval of the agreement of association with Mercosur, made up of Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.
The head of Paraguayan diplomacy indicated that the agreement approved by the European Commission “is based on the three negotiated chapters”, one from the commercial field, another political and a last one from cooperation. Likewise, he highlighted that the agreement “will have to be ratified by the respective congresses of the Mercosur member countries” so that it later comes into force.
He added that it is “a historic moment”, highlighting that after more than 25 years of negotiations and “many challenges” the signing of the pact will finally be signed. Besides, Ramírez highlighted that this is “one of the largest agreements in the history of our planet,” which will open a market of more than 700 million people of two blocks that bring together nearly 25% of the global gross domestic product (GDP).
The Council of the European Union (EU), in which the Governments of the Twenty-Sevenofficially supported this Friday by a qualified majority (55% of the countries that represent 65% of the Union’s population) the agreement with Mercosur.
The Member States of the EU agreed this day on a improved safeguards who must then validate the European Chamber in first reading, focused on the EU being able to react quickly to market disruptions caused by an increase in agricultural imports from Mercosur.
