Member states of the EU and the Mercosur countries – Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay – as well as representatives of the European Commission, have been discussing “a way forward” on ratifying a trade deal between the two blocs.
Yesterday (Tuesday, December 14), a EU27-LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean) meeting took place in Berlin, in which the European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis spoke with the trade ministers of the four Mercosur countries on bringing the deal into force.
A statement from the commission said that the representatives from both blocs “expressed their conviction that the agreement should be implemented in such a way so as to provide benefits to both sides in the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development”.
The statement says that Commissioner Dombrovskis and the EU ministers “instructed their officials to intensify contacts with a view to enhancing the exchange of information, increasing policy dialogue and identifying areas of cooperation.”
These actions will apparently be focused on “areas of public concern” relating to the agreement, including deforestation.
“The two sides expressed their conviction that their cooperation to establish the right conditions for the entry into force of the agreement will enhance its potential to contribute to the shared overarching objective of sustainable development,” the statement said.
Brexit
In other EU news, talks to secure a free-trade deal between the UK and the EU are continuing, even after a self-imposed “deadline” for reaching an agreement ended on Sunday (December 13).
Both sides had agreed last week that they would conduct intensive talks up to Sunday, but a joint statement by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated that talks will continue.
A joint statement by the two leaders said: “Despite the exhaustion after almost a year of negotiations, despite the fact that deadlines have been missed over and over, we think it is responsible at this point to go the extra mile.
“We have accordingly mandated our negotiators to continue the talks and to see whether an agreement can, even at this late stage, be reached,” the statement added.