Argentina urges review of 2019 agreement with the EU to "reduce the gaps"

Argentina, which holds the pro tempore presidency of Mercosur, believes it is necessary to "update" the trade agreement with the European Union (EU) signed in 2019 to "reduce the gaps" between the two blocs, according to its Foreign Minister, Santiago Cafiero. 

In his speech on Monday at the meeting of Mercosur Foreign Ministers (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), the Argentine Foreign Minister also rejected the environmental annex included by the EU, for having a "partial vision" with a "scant consideration of the economic-social development" of the South American group. 

"There is no ideological discourse, it has nothing to do with emotional issues, it has to do with objective issues", said Cafiero in his assessment of Argentina's rotating presidency. 

He stressed that Argentina shares the objective of "moving forward" with the EU to definitively conclude a crucial pact "in a context of "growing" global conflict and uncertainty", but singled out the EU bloc for "halting" the negotiation process for "four years" because of "internal political differences". 

"The agreement can be an effective vehicle for repositioning Mercosur on the global map", but for this "it is necessary to work on and update the 2019 texts", he said, in a position aligned with that of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. 

In this context, Cafiero pointed to the enormous "asymmetries" between the two blocs as obstacles, which, according to him, are not reflected in the general agreement signed in 2019, after two decades of negotiations. 

"Twenty-five of the 27 EU countries have a higher human development index than any country in our bloc," he said. 

He also criticised differences on tariff liberalisation for agricultural exports from one side or the other and quotas for other products of interest, which have become "outdated" in the current context. 

"We trade above what was agreed in 2019" so, with those criteria, now "we would have to reduce our exports", he explained to then cite EU agribusiness subsidies as another differential factor. 

Likewise, he rejected the environmental protocol that the EU attached last February, which, according to the Argentine side, poses "new obligations" in terms of climate change and deforestation that "go beyond what has been agreed in international forums". 

"And it omits references to the methods of implementation, how we are going to implement it, which is indispensable," he added.  

"The key is not whether or not to sign the agreement; that is a simple debate, the relevant part of the work is to find ways" to "reduce the gaps", he said. 

Cafiero indicated that in March they presented a counter-proposal to the environmental protocol with two additional texts: one on technical cooperation and the other on financial cooperation in order to "contribute to the development of the sectors that will be affected". 

The head of Argentine diplomacy also called on the other three Mercosur partners to continue to support regional integration at a time when "the whole multilateral scaffolding" is in question. 

"We are not going to achieve anything if we disintegrate, if we isolate ourselves; we need greater integration", he demanded. 

Cafiero gave as an example the record trade achieved by Mercosur, with 48% growth between 2019 and 2022. 

"In this time of uncertainty we have to strengthen ourselves as a bloc," he stressed. 

Cafiero headed the meeting of foreign ministers of Mercosur countries, in the run-up to the semi-annual summit of the bloc's heads of state, to be held this Tuesday in the Argentine city of Puerto Iguazú.