The European Union will sign an agreement with Mercosur. Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno announced on Friday that the contract will be signed on January 17 in Paraguay.
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“After more than 30 years of negotiations, on January 17, we will sign in Paraguay the historic, most ambitious agreement between these two blocs,” Quirno wrote on the X platform. As he emphasized, the agreement will benefit all parties.
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Thanks to the agreement, Mercosur countries – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – they will gain preferential access to the EU market. Minister Quirno noted that the European Union will waive customs duties on 92 percent. Mercosur exports, and another 7.5 percent goods will receive preferential conditions. “99 percent of agricultural exports from Mercosur will benefit from this,” added the head of Argentine diplomacy.
Poland was voted out on Mercosur
Earlier in the day, EU member states formally approved it consent to sign an agreement with Mercosur. Poland, France, Ireland, Hungary and Austria voted against the agreement, while Belgium abstained.
The consent of EU countries paves the way for the official signing of the agreement by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Paraguay, which currently chairs Mercosur, will host the signing ceremony.
The result of the vote by EU ambassadors on the trade agreement with Mercosur was formally approved in a written procedure that ended on Friday afternoon. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, received a mandate to finalize the agreement.
EU-Mercosur Agreement
The agreement with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which make up Mercosur, will introduce tariff preferences for certain agricultural products, including sensitive products: beef, poultry, dairy products, sugar and ethanol. In return, the markets of these countries will open to EU industrial goods such as cars, machinery and medicines.
On Friday, a protective clause was also adopted in the agreement with Mercosur in a strengthened version, which is intended to provide stronger guarantees. The mechanism may lead to the exclusion of customs preferences for Mercosur producers if prices of sensitive products in the EU fall or if too many of these products suddenly enter the market.
