The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will travel to Paraguay this week together with the President of the European Union, António Costa, to sign the trade agreement with the South American Mercosur countries. This is stated by the European Commission.
This means that on Saturday, January 17, not only a signature will be put in place, but also a full stop after 26 years of negotiations. At the same time, the agreement will open up a market of over 700 million consumers divided between the EU and the Mercosur trading bloc, which consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The signing will take place in Paraguay because the country currently holds the presidency of Mercosur.
The Danish government fought hard during Denmark's EU presidency to ensure that the agreement would be put into place in December. But at the concluded EU summit in Brussels, Italy was still not ready to say yes.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wanted to negotiate further protection for European agriculture in place before she would give the green light.
Relief in Denmark
Therefore, the Danish government and the Danish business community were greatly relieved when a qualified majority of EU countries succeeded on Friday in giving the green light to the agreement. This will open up opportunities for increased exports for both Danish agriculture and business, the expectation is.
- It is a huge breakthrough, said Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Jacob Jensen (V) on Friday.
- Also for Denmark, which as a small, open economy is dependent on trade with other countries, said the Danish minister.
The adoption was supported by Italy, while one of the EU's most influential countries - France - voted against. This happened after protests from French farmers, which led a unanimous French parliament to reject the agreement.
In addition to France, Poland, Austria, Hungary and Ireland also voted against the agreement. But it was not enough to slow down the trade agreement, which is considered particularly important after US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on European goods.
It has increased the EU's ambitions to cultivate new trade agreements with countries outside the US.
/ritzau/
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