EU, Mercosur to meet in September, hints at progress in trade talks

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EU and South American negotiators will hold their first face-to-face talks since April in Brasilia from September 4 to 6, diplomats said, raising hopes that an EU-Mercosur trade deal can be reached this year.

The deal has been two decades in the making but has been delayed by European concerns about environmental protections and complaints from the Mercosur trading bloc that they are protectionist.

“We will go to Brasilia for a round of face-to-face negotiations from September 4 to 6,” said a European diplomat. “The timetable for reaching an agreement by the end of the year is realistic,” he said.

Brazil’s foreign ministry confirmed the date of the meeting. Representatives for the foreign ministries of Argentina and Uruguay did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Paraguayan officials did not respond.

Negotiations suffered a setback in March when the French president called it a “very bad deal” during a visit to Brazil and voiced opposition from French farmers. Negotiations were put on hold until after EU parliamentary elections in June.

Diplomats said there had been no changes to the issues being discussed, including protection of food names in Europe and Brazil’s opposition to an EU anti-deforestation law due to take effect next year that could hit Brazilian exports.

Farmers in France, Germany and Belgium are protesting against competition from cheap imports from South America.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have pledged to reach a deal by the end of the year.

Ignacio Batsaggi, an international relations scholar at the Catholic University of Uruguay, said that at this stage, the EU is the main driver of the deal, which will open up markets for European companies.

Baltesaghi said “Brazil wants to bring a sense of continuity to the negotiations” because there are concerns that Argentine President Javier Milley will withdraw, even though his government has supported the talks since taking office.