The free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur is a free trade agreement on which the EU and Mercosur agreed in principle in 2019. [1] The agreement was announced on 28 June at the G20 summit in Osaka in 2019, after twenty years of negotiations. [1] [2] Although there is a consensus in principle, the final texts have not been finalised, signed or ratified and therefore have not entered into force. If ratified, it will be the largest trade agreement concluded by both the EU and Mercosur as far as the citizens concerned are concerned. [2] The trade agreement is part of a broader association agreement between the two blocs. In addition to trade, the Association Agreement would also cover cooperation and political dialogue. Negotiations on these two parties ended on 18 June 2020. Once the texts are final and legally revised, they will have to be translated into all the official languages of the EU and Mercosur. [39] The texts are then submitted to the European Commission for approval by the Council of Ministers of the European Union. Unanimity is required in the Council. If adopted, the Council will sign the agreement and forward it to the Mercosur countries and the European Parliament.
An EU Association Agreement must also be approved by the national parliaments of all EU Member States. Ratification of the agreement by the national parliaments of the Mercosur countries is also necessary. [40] Overall, this is a process that can take many years. [2] However, in the EU, the commercial part of the agreement (and certain elements of the preamble, institutional provisions and final provisions) can be provisionally implemented as soon as ratification by Mercosur and approval by the European Parliament. The European Commission may also decide to present the trade column as a separate trade agreement. If the Mercosur countries and the Council agree, the separate trade agreement does not need to be approved by the parliaments of the EU Member States (trade falling within the exclusive competence of the EU) is sufficient. [39] What remains of the Association Agreement still needs to be approved by all national parliaments and cannot be implemented provisionally. [41] The EU`s new trade director, Valdis Dombrovskis, said it was “clear that we need to take these issues seriously”.
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