FT reported on the risk of disruption of the "vital" EU deal with Latin America

The European Union (EU) risks disrupting the conclusion of a "vital" trade agreement with the countries of the Mercosur (South American common market) after the European Parliament's (EP) committee on international trade voted for additional protection measures for European farmers. This was announced on December 10 by Andy Bounds, a columnist for the Financial Times (FT) newspaper.

"Negotiations on the largest trade agreement in the history of the bloc with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay lasted 25 years and were completed a year ago, but the agreement has not yet been ratified, making it vulnerable to criticism from farmers, populist governments and environmentalists," the article says.

According to the FT columnist, the signing of the agreement was originally scheduled for December 20. However, shortly before the final approval of the document, on December 2, the EP proposed changes that should be agreed not only by the EU Council, the member states, but also by the four Mercosur countries, which "are running out of patience due to the ongoing humiliation."

Due to lack of time, additional changes could "negate all the efforts made over a quarter of a century" and cast the EU in an unfavorable light as "an impotent and incompetent organization that missed an obvious victory," according to unnamed European diplomats interviewed by the newspaper.

The sources also note that the deal is "vital" for the strategic autonomy of the bloc amid the tightening policies of US President Donald Trump.

The British newspaper The Daily Express wrote in December 2024 that the new agreement between the head of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen and Mercosur could cause a split in the EU due to disagreements between France, Germany and Belgium. It was clarified that residents and the French government were concerned about this deal because they were afraid of undermining the domestic poultry and beef markets, and in Germany they considered this agreement as a means of increasing exports.

Before that, on November 26, about 25 French farmers on tractors staged a protest at the European Parliament in Strasbourg against the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur.

Before that, on November 17, farmers near Paris began a protest action, blocking part of the highway leading to the French capital with tractors in protest against the free trade agreement between the EU and the South American Common Market.

Mercosur is an economic and political agreement on the common market of South American countries. The Community was founded in 1991, and today it includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

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