Distrust of Brazil govt stalls EU trade deal with Mercosur

RIO DE JANEIRO – Distrust in Europe of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s government is holding up the ratification of a trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur, said the EU ambassador to Brasilia.

Agreed in principle last year after two decades of negotiations, the EU’s draft deal with the South American trade bloc will create a huge market of more than 750 million people.

But, the ratification process has stalled among the EU’s 27 members, notably over concerns about Brazil’s perceived lack of commitment to protecting the Amazon rainforest.

“The distrust is there,” said the EU ambassador to Brazil, Spanish diplomat Ignacio Ybanez Rubio, in an interview posted yesterday on Brazil’s Congresso em Foco news site.

“We’ve been expressing our concern (about environmental issues) to the Brazilian government for some time now.”

He said EU executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis “has already said that unless we re-establish trust in the Brazilian government on that point, it’s going to be very difficult to move forward”.

Bolsonaro, a far-right climate change sceptic, has faced international criticism over deforestation in the Amazon, which has surged on his watch.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased 9.5% to a 12-year high in the year to August, destroying a total area larger than Jamaica, according to Brazilian government figures.

Various EU states, including France and Germany, have expressed reservations about finalising the deal with Mercosur – which comprises Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – mainly because of environmental concerns.

A Paris-commissioned report earlier this year found that the deal will fuel an increase in South American beef production and see a 25% rise in deforestation.

The Bolsonaro government fired back that the report showed France’s “protectionist interests”.

Speculation has swirled recently that the two sides could reopen negotiations in a bid to find a mutually acceptable compromise.

But, Ybanez said that would be beside the point.

“What would be good is (for Brazil) to find a political commitment to present in Europe to address the lack of trust in the Brazilian government’s performance.

“The agreement itself is very good. We don’t need to reopen it.” – AFP, December 13, 2020