European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives for the LXV Mercosur Summit in Montevideo on December 6, 2024. Mercosur and the European Union have concluded “negotiations for a free trade agreement,” announced European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Montevideo on December 6. (Photo by Eitan ABRAMOVICH / AFP)
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Italy 'carefully' studying EU-Mercosur agreement for 'guarantees': PM
Italy is studying a European Union trade agreement with the South American Mercosur bloc and will only sign if there are “concrete guarantees” that farmers will be protected, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday.
“We are carefully studying the draft agreement... taking the necessary time to assess whether our requests will be met,” Meloni told parliament ahead of a meeting of European leaders later this week.
She reiterated her government's earlier warning that if its requests were not met, Italy would not sign the agreement.
The controversial agreement was announced by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on December 6, but still needs to be approved by at least 15 of the 27 EU member states.
While Germany and Spain have celebrated the initiative to create a wide-ranging free trade zone with more than 700 million people, France has said the agreement is unacceptable, and farmers' unions have expressed their dismay.
Meloni warned on Tuesday that farmers were already paying “the highest price with the opening of the European market to products made in third countries that do not respect the same environmental and food safety standards that we impose on our producers.”
“The EU-Mercosur agreement must, therefore, also offer concrete guarantees and opportunities for growth for the European agricultural world, whose profitability and competitiveness have suffered in recent years,” she said.
Meloni criticized “the absurd opposition between environmental sustainability and competitiveness,” although she said that “important signs have already arrived” that this opposition is being overcome.
“But there is still a lot of work to be done. Effective safeguard mechanisms must be put in place, including an adequate compensation system for supply chains that may be harmed,” said the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party.
“In the absence of this essential rebalancing, Italy's support will be lacking, as we are convinced that the Mercosur-EU agreement must bring advantages for all, not just for some,” she added.
Proponents of the agreement argue that the Mercosur deal will help increase economic security through trade diversification and has the support of industrial groups, with European companies being able to save billions in customs duties.
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