EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic believes that concerns around the EU-Mercosur trade agreement have been addressed with "real solutions".

The comments followed an extraordinary meeting of EU ministers for agriculture in Brussels today (Wednesday, January 7) hosted by the commission and Minister Maria Panayiotou for the Cypriot presidency of the EU Council.

The meeting, which focused on the future of farming in the EU, comes ahead of a possible vote on the EU-Mercosur deal during a gathering of member states' permanent representatives to the EU on Friday.

If that vote is passed, this may pave the way for a potential signing of the trade deal in Paraguay as soon as Monday (January 12).

Vote

When asked about that timeline during a press conference, Commissioner Sefcovic was remaining tightlipped and responded: "I do not have the crystal ball".

However, he said he understood that the Cypriot presidency "are considering the vote on Friday".

"Of course, we need the support for that...from our member states. So, we have to wait for the decision, and then, of course, to communicate with our Mercosur partners, about the outcome of this vote.

"So I wouldn't speculate about about the concrete dates, because the next step is the work of the Cypriot presidency, and I wouldn't interfere with the agenda as it set by the minister," he said.

Minister Maria Panayiotou for the Cypriot Presidency of the EU Council highlighted the concerns raised by EU farmers about the deal.

"So as [Cypriot] minister of agriculture, and representing the ministers of agriculture that were attending the meeting today, we want to make sure that the safeguards that we need to have for our farmers are there.

"We need to have a safety net for our farmers, and we will wait to see the outcome of the discussions on Friday," she said.

Mercosur

Commissioner Sefcovic said that "the Mercosur agreement is a landmark one".

"This is the biggest free trade agreement we have negotiated. It's four times bigger than a free trade agreement with Japan.

"The priority of the commission here is very clear that EU companies should be able to benefit from it as soon as possible," he said.

The commissioner added that "the overarching goal of all of us is to deliver a win-win agreement that never sells EU businesses short".

He said the commission had not just listened to concerns raised about the deal but had gone "further than ever before" with an "unprecedented, targeted toolbox" that includes safeguards, strong checks and controls.

At least every six months, Sefcovic said the commission will present "a very detailed monitoring report about the importing of the sensitive agri-food products from Mercosur".

"I believe that after having these multiple discussions, we addressed the real concerns with the real solutions," he said.

The commissioner said a proposal to lower the threshold for activating safeguard measures to protect EU farmers from sudden import surges or price drops to 5% will be discussed on Friday.

He said the EU-Mercosur agreement alone is expected to increase EU agri-food exports to the region by 50%.