RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday (3) that France would maintain its opposition to the EU-Mercosur trade deal when the country takes over the rotating EU presidency in early 2022.
The French president’s opposition remains focused on climate change and biodiversity.
“France is against Mercosur as it is being negotiated today, and we will continue to say that very clearly. Not because we are not comfortable with our Mercosur friends, but because this agreement, as conceived and designed, is by definition incompatible with our climate and biodiversity agenda,” he said in Marseille at the World Conservation Congress (IUCN).
“We need to reinvent our trade policy to make it consistent with our climate policy and our biodiversity policy, that is a necessity,” he added.
This free trade agreement with the four Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay), concluded in June 2019 after 20 years of negotiations, has triggered a wave of criticism in Europe, especially from the highly subsidized agricultural sector and environmentalists.
It was negotiated by the European Commission on behalf of EU countries, but the treaty will not be finally ratified until the parliaments of all member states ratify it.
Some countries, such as France and Germany, are reluctant and question Brazil’s commitment to the environment, especially given the increase in fires in the Amazon.