EU and Mercosur Achieve Political Agreement on Historic Partnership

On 6 December, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the presidents of the four Mercosur countries—Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Argentina’s Javier Milei, Paraguay’s Santiago Peña, and Uruguay’s Luis Lacalle Pou—concluded negotiations on a landmark EU-Mercosur partnership agreement. 

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “This is a win-win agreement, which will bring meaningful benefits to consumers and businesses, on both sides. We are focused on fairness and mutual benefit. We have listened to the concerns of our farmers and we acted on them. This agreement includes robust safeguards to protect your livelihoods. EU-Mercosur is the biggest agreement ever, when it comes to the protection of EU food and drinks products. More than 350 EU products now are protected by a geographical indication. In addition, our European health and food standards remain untouchable. Mercosur exporters will have to comply strictly with these standards to access the EU market. This is the reality of an agreement that will save EU companies €4 billion worth of export duties per year.”

This agreement comes at a pivotal moment for both regions, offering significant opportunities for mutual benefits through enhanced geopolitical, economic, sustainability, and security cooperation. Following final legal scrubbing by both sides, the text will be translated into all official EU languages, and then submitted to the Council and Parliament.