The European Union put forward a huge trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur for approval by member countries on Wednesday, September 3, reassuring lead critic France it came with "robust" safeguards to protect farmers.
The agreement to form a 700-million-customer free-trade area, the world's biggest, is a key pillar in Brussels' push to open new markets in the face of United States tariffs. But it has faced Paris-led opposition over agricultural concerns.
"EU businesses and the EU agrifood sector will immediately reap the benefits of lower tariffs and lower costs, contributing to economic growth," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said while presenting the deal.
The Commission on Wednesday gave its final go-ahead to the accord, which was struck with the club bringing together Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay in December – 25 years after negotiations began. But the text needs to be approved by at least 15 of the EU's 27 member nations and the European Parliament to be formally adopted.
It is backed by a wide majority of countries, skippered by Germany, keen to diversify trade away from the US which will maintain ramped-up tariffs on the EU despite a newly-struck trade deal.
The pact will see Mercosur countries progressively remove import duties on 91% of EU goods including cars, chemicals, wine and chocolate. In return, agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbors would be able to sell meat, sugar, honey, soybeans and other products to Europe with fewer restrictions. This raised fears that a flow of cheaper farming goods would undercut European producers.
The Commission said the text provides "full and comprehensive protection for all EU sensitivities in the agricultural sector" and sensitive products will be further shielded from "any harmful surge in imports" by "robust safeguards."
In a late concession to critics, it promised to detail how these would work in a separate act, which a senior Commission official said would clarify that the safeguards can be triggered even if a single member state was badly affected. Paris sounded a conciliatory note on Wednesday, with government spokeswoman Sophie Primas saying the Commission had "heard the reservations" of several countries.