Efta Mercosur Trade Agreement

Once the texts are definitively and legally revised, they will have to be translated into all the official languages of the EU and Mercosur. [39] The texts are then submitted by the European Commission for approval by the Council of Ministers of the European Union. Unanimity is required within the Council. If the Council is adopted, it will sign the agreement and pass it on to the Mercosur countries and the European Parliament. An EU Association Agreement must also be approved by national parliaments of all EU member states. Ratification of the agreement by the national parliaments of mercosur countries is also necessary. [40] Together, it is a process that, in itself, can take many years. [2] However, in the EU, the trade part of the agreement (and certain elements of the preamble, institutional and final provisions) can be provisionally implemented as soon as Mercosur ratifies and the European Parliament approves. The European Commission may also decide to present the trade pillar as a separate trade agreement.

If the Mercosur countries and the Council agree, the separate trade agreement must not be approved by the parliaments of the EU Member States (since trade falls under the exclusive competence of the EU), the approval of the European Parliament is sufficient. [39] What remains of the Association Agreement still needs to be approved by all national parliaments and cannot be implemented provisionally. [41] On 18 June 2019, more than 340 civil society organisations wrote to call on the EU to immediately halt trade negotiations and use its influence as Brazil`s second largest trading partner to improve the human rights situation in Brazil under Bolsonaro. [25] The letter acknowledges the decision to place the delimitation of indigenous lands under the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, where the agricultural lobby has powerful demands and repeated attacks and invasions of indigenous lands by profit seekers. [25] It also noted that trade preferences for countries involved in human rights violations, such as Myanmar and the Philippines, had been suspended and had restricted imports of products related to human rights violations, such as conflict minerals. [25] This letter reiterated a similar plea by 600 European scientists and 300 indigenous groups in May, calling on the EU to call on Brazil to respect environmental and human rights standards, a precondition for the conclusion of Mercosur`s trade negotiations. [20] MERCOSUR and EFTA held an intersessional meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 17 to 18 October 2017. The third round of free trade negotiations between the EFTA and MERCOSUR countries was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 10 to 13 April 2018. The fourth round of negotiations took place in Geneva from 2 to 6 July 2018.

The fifth round of free trade negotiations between mercosur and EFTA countries was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 8 to 12 October 2018. The sixth round of negotiations took place from 26 to 30 November 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland. The negotiating groups concerned: trade in goods; Rules of origin Trade in services Investments intellectual property rights and public procurement. The 8th round of negotiations took place from 6 to 10 May 2019 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The DELEGATIONs of MERCOSUR and EFTA met in Geneva on 11 and 14 June 2019 and moved closer to concluding their negotiations in all areas. The technical legal review meeting of the free trade agreement between MERCOSUR and EFTA was held in Buenos Aires on 10-14 February 2020. Learn more about the AELE-MERCOSUR negotiations and trade statistics. According to Jonathan Watts, “the negotiations lasted nearly two decades, which may explain why the result signed last week reflects the industry-friendly values of the past rather than the environmental concerns of the present.” [14] According to an editorial in the Irish Times, “EU countries are committed to achieving net zero carbon by 2050, but this will not be significant if the world`s largest carbon sink is destroyed.” [16] Former French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot condemned the agreement in an intervie