The European Commission has avoided "speculating" on the ratification process of the free trade agreement signed with Mercosur countries at the end of June and has limited itself to explaining that both parties are currently carrying out a "legal review" of the texts before they are translated into all official languages.
"I don't think we can speculate on the ratification process for now, "both from the European side and from the partner countries," said Community spokesman Enrico Brivio at a press conference, after being asked about criticism from agricultural sectors in countries such as France and Ireland and how a change of government in Argentina could affect it.
The Community Executive has indicated that in the current phase Both parties are conducting a "legal review"» of the agreed documents before being able to reach a "final version" of the agreement that will be translated into all official EU languages.
The trade agreement will then be sent to all member states of the European club and to the European Parliament for approval.
The EU and the countries that make up Mercosur announced at the end of June that they had reached a free trade agreement after twenty years of negotiations. Negotiations began in 200 and have since gone through several phases, even coming to a standstill.
Both sides agreed in 2016 to relaunch talks, with the agricultural chapter being the main stumbling block, especially Mercosur's beef exports to the community bloc.
Once ratified, the agreement will eliminate most tariffs between the two parties and save European companies around €4.000 billion annually, according to the European Commission. EU exports to Mercosur in 2018 amounted to €45.000 billion, while those of the four American countries to the European bloc were worth €42.600 billion.
Source: Europa Press
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