BRUSSELS (AP) — Italy on Friday lent crucial support to European Union plans to seal a massive free trade deal with five South American nations neighboring Venezuela that has been negotiated for more than 25 years.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had long been seen as the key vote in the campaign by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to gather support for the trade agreement with the Mercosur nations of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Von der Leyen could now potentially sign the agreement next week during a meeting in Paraguay. The European Parliament will vote on it before it enters into force.
Italy confirmed its support for the deal on Friday, with Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani hailing it as “good news for Italy.”
“This agreement is destined to strengthen our exports, with the aim of reaching 700 billion euros in exports,” Tajani wrote in a post on X. He acknowledged that the agreement required a long negotiation, but added that Italy obtained protection for its farmers, “especially in relation to production standards.”
Meloni said in a press conference on Friday that she never had “any ideological objection” to the Mercosur agreement.
“We have always said that we will be in favor of it when there are sufficient guarantees for our farmers,” she said. “The potential of the deal is good, but not at the expense of the excellence of our products.”
The agreement will create one of the largest free trade areas in the world, covering around 780 million people from Uruguay to Romania and a quarter of the world’s gross domestic product.
It would also give Brussels a diplomatic victory at a time of economic turmoil, providing a strong counterpoint to Washington’s gunboat diplomacy and Beijing’s coercive export controls.
A delay in December to signing the deal had angered Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and led experts to worry that a last-minute disruption would damage the EU’s credibility.
Opposition to the deal was led by France and Poland, with angry farmers flooding roads and blocking roads with tractors from Brussels to Athens. Austria, Hungary and Ireland also voted against it.
Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin said on Thursday in Shanghai during a state visit to China that “we have no confidence that (Irish farmers) will not be diminished by this,” according to Irish public broadcaster RTE.
Both Martin and French President Emmanuel Macron said that the internal negotiations prompted by the political furore surrounding the agreement led to reforms that better protect European farmers. But they recognized that such reforms were not enough to overcome domestic political pressure.
Post on X on Thursday, Macron said three of France’s main demands are now being met: New safeguards for an “emergency brake” on imports if they are found to undercut EU prices by 5% or more; the reflection of EU regulations on food safety in the Mercosur bloc; and increased inspections of agri-food imports at EU ports and beyond.
Still, Macron said the potential economic gains of the Mercosur agreement are limited and do not justify the risks it poses to EU agriculture. His office said the deal would add just 77 billion euros ($89.7 billion) by 2040 — half a percent of the EU’s GDP.
Green members of the European Parliament had promised to bring the Commission to court regarding the agreement. They said the deal would accelerate deforestation in the Amazon and undermine the EU’s climate goals.
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Zampano reported from Rome. Sylvie Corbet contributed from Paris.