“I see no chance that the EU can reject the agreement with Mercosur in this geopolitical context” | Economy | EUROtoday

It is likely one of the most heard voices when speaking about imports and exports within the European Union. The Trade Commissioners go, however Bernd Lange stays. This 69-year-old German socialist MEP goes to enter his third time period in workplace, together with the one he has simply began as president of the Trade Commission and was beforehand a part of it. From that vantage level he defends with some warning the latest settlement that the European Commission has reached with Mercosur: “We have to carefully analyze the entire package, but in principle it reflects our demands,” says this very veteran parliamentarian who’s going through his seventh time period within the European Parliament.

Some of the calls for to which Lange refers are based mostly on the settlement reached in 2019 between Brussels and Mercosur. This pact was rejected by a number of member states and the European Parliament, which is why it by no means started its ratification course of. More commitments had been demanded towards deforestation within the Amazon, compliance with the Paris agreements to cut back carbon emissions and respect for mental property rights. “So on a first assessment, yes, this is in line with what we, as Parliament, demand.”

But that’s his opinion as an MEP. It doesn’t replicate that of the Commission he presides, a lot much less that of the European Parliament. In it, when the time involves open the ratification debate, inner points will weigh greater than ideological positions. “We will have to do our homework internally. Sometimes these protests against the agreements [comerciales]specifically Mercosur, are just the sign that something is going wrong internally, because scientific evidence makes it clear, in principle, that everyone benefits from this type of agreement.”

Lange warns a number of occasions on this phone interview {that a} deep evaluation of the texts continues to be pending. “We will have to examine them,” he factors out. The European Commission has just lately revealed the negotiated paperwork. But with the whole lot and with that, when requested if he believes that the EU has room to reject on this geopolitical context a commerce settlement like this one, which provides entry to a market of 270 million customers and opens the door to the arrival of supplies important uncooked supplies (copper, nickel, silicon, tungsten…), he solutions that he believes not. “I don’t see any possibility of really rejecting this in this global world. We really need a network of stable economic and political relations with reliable partners,” he justifies.

“At this moment we have 45 trade agreements with about 70 countries and having this Mercosur agreement represents another great change in this network of reliable partners. I think it’s also clear that China and the United States are looking quite closely at the Mercosur countries. So if we don’t get an appropriate agreement adopted, of course our competitors are present,” he provides.

One of the criticisms he rebels towards is that the settlement with the 4 Latin American international locations consists of an trade of “cows for cars”: “That is not true. Europe exports many more agricultural goods than it imports [el saldo es positivo por 70.000 millones de euros] and it does so mainly to the commercial partners with whom we have agreements.”

This reasoning additionally leads him to tremendously qualify that assertion that Germany is the nice beneficiary of the pact. He admits that his nation, very robust in international gross sales of equipment or automobiles, can win. “But also other countries. Italy has wine and the protection of its geographical designations. It is also an advantage for cognac and other products.”

Stretching this reasoning, Langer factors out that it isn’t commerce agreements that deliver issues to the agricultural sector as a complete. That commerce steadiness helps the argument. But then why the protests? “We have a problem, because the producer [agricultores] “They are not getting their fair share.” It factors to one of many oldest claims within the area that has not but been resolved: the distribution chain. “This is not fair and we have to see how we can improve it. This is an internal issue. But it is important.” Thus releasing business coverage from accountability.

The debate in Parliament will start in 2025, will probably be lengthy and “emotional”. Lange is aware of that there might be misinformation, which is why he warns that “it will be important to have real data and figures.” And would not extra transparency have been higher earlier than, to keep away from criticism from some Member States and civil society? “When I became president of the Trade Commission, I reached an agreement with the European Commission so that parliamentarians would have access to all documents, to publish their position on the site web and to maintain an ongoing dialogue and follow-up group. So they were pretty well informed about the process. And also the public could actually see all the progress on the page web. By the way, the clicks were not that many. We offered much more transparency than before 2014. But it is not always used,” he clarifies.