BRUSSELS – The European course of resulting in the signing of the commerce settlement with Mercosur, anticipated subsequent week, is filled with institutional junctures and political difficulties. Some international locations proceed to make noise, whereas on Tuesday 16 December Parliament ought to give its inexperienced gentle to the safeguards proposed by the European Commission to reassure the agricultural world. The speculation of a postponement of the signature doesn’t please those that worry injury to the picture of the European Union.
The Danish presidency would have favored to signal the vote of the member international locations yesterday, however most well-liked to postpone the appointment making an allowance for the unsure positions of some international locations, specifically France, Poland, Romania, and in addition Italy. Yesterday right here in Brussels the Italian Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida acknowledged: «We consider that our pursuits, like these of different international locations, have to be protected (…) We are usually not fully there but».
The vote of the member international locations shall be held by certified majority; Italy may have a number one function in serving to to maneuver the needle, given the opposition of vital international locations, corresponding to Poland and France. To give its approval, the French authorities is asking for safeguards for the agricultural sector, the adoption of mirror clauses by the Mercosur international locations and particular controls on imports from Latin America.
Our gaze turns to the vote on 16 December within the plenary session in Strasbourg. On that event, Parliament must approve its negotiating place on the safeguards introduced by the European Commission (see Il Sole/24 Ore of 9 October). The conventional negotiation with the Council ought to then happen, as this can be a legislative textual content. It needs to be borne in thoughts, nonetheless, that based on the textual content the safeguards would come into power briefly even within the absence of a conclusion of the trilogue.
France is in a tough place. It should take note of its noisy agricultural sector. At the identical time, it can not afford to be within the minority if the vast majority of international locations assist the settlement. Such an eventuality can be very embarrassing for the federal government of Sébastien Lecornu and for President Emmanuel Macron, as a result of it contradicts the home rhetoric based on which Paris has a number one function in shaping the Union within the picture and likeness of France.
https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/mercosur-tensioni-interne-all-ue-rallentano-firma-dell-accordo-commerciale-AIAn3tN