2 October 2019: A CSO/Business – Meeting with the trade officials of German FEDERAL MINISTRY FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS AND ENERGY (BMWi) on various trade issues took place in Berlin on 2 October 2019. Here are the main points regarding EU-Mercosur:
Commissioner Malmström attending the informal FAC-Trade meeting in Brussels on 1 October 2019 stated: The prospect of the EU-Mercosur agreement has persuaded Bolsonaro to remain in the Paris Climate Change Agreement. (Quoted after Mr. Lutz, BMWi)
EU-Mercosur will be a mixed agreement (see Council decision
after ECJ opinion on EU-Singapore: “It is equally for the Council to decide, on a case-by-case basis, on the splitting of trade agreements. Depending on their content, association agreements should be mixed. The ones that are currently being negotiated, such as with Mexico, Mercosur and Chile, will remain mixed agreements”). BMWi has no information regarding a possible splitting.
The ratification process (EU Council) will not start before summer / late summer 2020.
On the decision of the Austrian Parliament not to ratify EU-Mercosur: The decision was taken when the final text of the agreement was not ready. So the German Ministry questioned the relevance of this decision.
On the political part of the Association Agreement (AA) including political dialogue and cooperation: This part was agreed upon in June 2018. The text of the political agreement is not available, even the BMWi does not have it (belief it or not). We should ask the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to get the text.
There will be a special meeting on EU-Mercosur will officials of the EU Commission, organized by BMWi, in Berlin on 22 October 2019.