EU-Mercosur free-trade deal 'not concluded,' says Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that "the matter is not concluded," referring to the finalisation of the controversial free-trade agreement between the European Union and the South American Mercosur bloc.

"The matter is not concluded ... We will continue to strongly defend the coherence of our commitments and thus [a] coherent trade policy," he emphasised before French ambassadors gathered at the Élysée Palace.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on December 6 last year the conclusion of negotiations on this agreement, which still needs to be ratified by EU member states.

"It's just a signature," insisted Macron on Monday.

The French leader recalled that in 2019 he had already witnessed the endorsement of a similar agreement at the G20 Leaders Summit in Osaka, which was later "discarded because those who signed it did not honour what they had pledged to do."

The free-trade deal, which would create a common market of some 700 million people, would allow the EU, already the primary trading partner of Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia), to export cars, machinery, and pharmaceutical products more easily.

It would also enable the South American countries included in the agreement (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay) to sell products like meat, sugar, rice, honey, soybeans, etc., to Europe.

France, the main opponent of the treaty, considers it "unacceptable" and insists that Mercosur farmers must adhere to the environmental and health standards in force in the EU to avoid unfair competition.

– TIMES/AFP