Brazil awaits ‘ok’ from Mercosur until next week to send a counterproposal for a trade agreement to the European Union

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Document should be sent to Europeans still in August; Brazil occupies the temporary presidency of Mercosur. Impasses include government procurement rules and environmental clauses. The Itamaraty hopes to receive by the beginning of next week the position of the Mercosur countries on the counter-proposal prepared by Brazil for the bloc’s trade agreement with the European Union. In July, Brazil finalized internal debates between ministries on the response document to the Europeans. The process, according to Brazilian government sources, took longer than expected due to impasses involving interests from different ministries. On the 14th, President Lula gave the “OK” to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, and the document was sent to the other members of Mercosur: Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. With the signaling, therefore, of all Mercosur countries, the negotiation response proposal should be sent to the Europeans still in August. Brazil occupies the temporary presidency of Mercosur and will lead the trade agreement negotiations, which have been held for four years. On the European Union side, Spain will lead the debate. Lula reiterates that Mercosur will not give in to threats to close an agreement with the European Union What does the counterproposal Negotiated more than two decades ago, the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union had the commercial part of the text concluded in 2019, but the rules have not yet entered into force because they have not been approved by the countries of both blocs. The negotiated text allows European companies to compete in bids opened by the public sector on equal terms with Brazilian companies, with exceptions for certain products. The document prepared by the Brazilian side addresses environmental issues raised by the Europeans, but also suggests a renegotiation on the point that deals with greater openness to foreign countries to participate in public tenders in Brazil. Another point in the text concerns the so-called “government purchases”, with an excerpt that more protects the national industry in some fields, such as the purchase of inputs for the health area of ​​the Unified Health System (SUS). Macron rebuts Lula and says ‘there is no threat’ in Mercosur agreement with Europeans

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