“A very bad agreement”: Macron wants to completely renegotiate Mercosur

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President Macron in São Paulo: “Let’s negotiate a new, more responsible agreement”

Photo: Isaac Fontana / EPA

French President Emmanuel Macron has long been opposed to the planned free trade agreement between the EU and the South American economic alliance Mercosur, and now he has sharpened his rhetoric again. In its current form, the agreement is unsustainable.

»As it stands now, it is a very bad agreement. This contract was negotiated 20 years ago. That's not what we want," Macron said on Wednesday during a visit to the Brazilian economic metropolis of São Paulo. "Let us negotiate a new, more responsible agreement that is based on our goals and reality and that takes development, climate and biodiversity into account."

In contrast to Macron, Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Economy Minister Fernando Haddad had previously promoted the free trade agreement in principle.

Macron is one of the harshest critics of the treaty in the EU. Above all, he criticizes the fact that European farmers and companies have to adhere to strict guidelines to reduce carbon emissions, while in the future tariffs will be lifted on products from South America that are not manufactured according to the same rules.

French farmers in particular have expressed their dissatisfaction with the planned free trade agreement in the past. Their fear that Mercosur will increasingly supply cheap meat to the EU is one of the reasons for Macron's negative attitude. France's agricultural sector would most likely benefit, especially due to additional exports of wine and cheese.

EU politician Bernd Lange also recently emphasized in an interview with SPIEGEL that French farmers are not threatened by the agreement. Lange also blamed domestic political pressure as the main cause of Macron's veto. However, if the economic alliance does not come about, it would be fatal: “The damage would be considerable, both economically and politically,” said Lange. »It would be fatal if we slammed the door on the Mercosur countries. China in particular would benefit from this.”

The agreement between the EU and the Mercosur alliance with its member states Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay would create one of the world's largest free trade areas with more than 700 million inhabitants. Above all, it is intended to reduce tariffs and thus stimulate trade.

However, the fully negotiated agreement has been on hold since 2019. The treaty is controversial in both South America and Europe. Some countries want to protect their markets, others fear that labor and environmental standards will be weakened.

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