Fifteen European Union governments on Monday called on the bloc to accelerate the conclusion of free trade agreements to guarantee long-term economic growth and its geopolitical position in the world.
In a letter to the EU Commerce Commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, seen by Reuters, 15 Ministers of Economics, Foreign Affairs and Commerce said the Ukraine War and the Covid-19 pandemic stressed the need for resilient supply chains, partnerships strategies and open trade.
With different powers competing for leadership and new alliances, the EU needs to accelerate its own commercial impulse. One in seven EU jobs depends on trade, ministers said.
“This should be a warning to Europe,” the ministers said, adding that the European Union is taking too long.
In 2019, the EU struck a deal with the Mercosur bloc, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, but suspended it due to concerns over deforestation in the Amazon.
A new agreement with Mexico, as of 2018, has not yet been submitted for EU approval.
The block is also in commercial talks with Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, and now with India.
EU diplomats say France, which holds the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, has suspended measures to strike trade deals so as not to disrupt presidential and legislative elections.
France denies that it is delaying the agreements.
Source: CNN Brasil
