Bucharest, March 1, 2025 – RBJ – Romania opposes the free trade agreement with the countries of the Mercosur bloc, considering that it will bring significant harm to the agri-food sector and Romanian farmers, claims the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Florin Barbu.
The negotiations on the EU-Mercosur agreement, which have been ongoing since the late 1990s, took a new turn after the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, visited Uruguay on December 6, 2024, to confirm the conclusion of its renegotiation. A new version of the trade part of the EU-Mercosur agreement has just been unveiled.
However, contrary to what has been written in some mainstream media, the agreement has not been signed, let alone concluded, by the President of the Commission, who does not have the power to do so. On the European side, a Council decision authorising its signing is expected, in accordance with what is indicated in Article 218 § 5 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The procedures in force in the Mercosur countries will similarly condition the signing and eventual conclusion of this conventional text.
The opinion of the Romanian Minister of Agriculture also fits into this context. He stated for the national press agency Agerpres: “Romania is against this agreement. Romanian farmers will be affected. I have asked the Commissioner (Christophe Hansen, European Commissioner for Agriculture – ed.) to give Agriculture a three-year transition period within the framework of this agreement. They are still under discussion at EU level, no decision has been taken. That is why we need a head of state who will take a stand against Mercosur. This is the most important pillar that the president who will be elected by Romanians must do: to be against Mercosur.”
He specified that, initially, most EU states were against the agreement, but currently Italy has a different approach. Currently, however, Italy is leaning and wants to tip the balance, but without obvious success.
The Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation (AAC), from Romania, recently conveyed, during the meetings held in Brussels, at COPA-COGECA, that Romania opposes the Mercosur Agreement in its current form, due to the damages caused to the Romanian agri-food sector. In this context, the organization’s representatives conveyed that, if the threshold of a minority of countries representing 35% of the EU population to block the agreement is not met, the national Parliament and the Romanian representatives in the European Parliament will not ratify it, thus avoiding its application at least until 2030.
During the discussion with Leopoldo Rubinacci, Deputy Director General at DG Trade for Romania, the AAC requested that the list of sensitive sectors be expanded in the future free trade agreement, at least to wheat and barley for which there is no limit, importing about 7% of European production from Ukraine, reintroducing tariff quotas at the level of the quantities existing before the war and mobilizing Ukraine to resume its previous sales markets.
On February 27, Romanian farmers stood in solidarity with their European colleagues from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria, who launched protests against unfair European agricultural policies, massive imports of agricultural products from third countries and the vitality of a distinct and strong budget for the CAP 2028-2034.
According to the Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation, Romanian farmers face the same problems as their European colleagues: market distortions caused by duty-free imports from Ukraine, the harmful impact of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement on the competitiveness of European agricultural production, the increasing bureaucratic burden imposed by Brussels regulations and the lack of concrete provisions for a distinct and strong CAP budget in the Vision for the Future of Agriculture in the EU.
“These measures endanger food security, destroy local supply chains and affect the income of European farmers,” the Alliance representatives said.
In this context, the AAC calls on decision-makers in Romania and the EU to: cancel the EU-Mercosur agreement, which would allow massive imports of agricultural products from South America, seriously affecting the competitiveness of European farmers; renegotiate EU-Ukraine trade relations, in order to protect the European agricultural market and ensure fair competition conditions; guarantee fair agricultural policies, which ensure real protection of the internal market and European farmers; reduce bureaucracy and excessive regulations imposed by Brussels, which make agricultural activity more difficult.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on February 22, before the opening of the 61st Paris Agricultural Fair, that France continues to seek a “blocking minority” within the European Union on the free trade agreement with the South American countries of Mercosur, AFP reported.
“Our farmers cannot be the variable for adjusting purchasing power (…), nor the variable for adjusting agricultural agreements. And for this reason we oppose the agreement with Mercosur as it was signed,” the French head of state declared at the time.
Paris opposes the agreement with Mercosur, believing that the South American bloc must comply with the rules in force in the EU to avoid unfair competition.
Aimed at liberalizing trade between the EU and five Latin American countries, this trade treaty was signed on December 6, 2024, but must be ratified to be applied. “It is a bad text as it was signed. And so we will do everything to prevent it from going its way, to protect this French and European food sovereignty,” the French president said before the opening of the Agricultural Show.
To be ratified, this free trade agreement must be approved by at least 15 member states representing 65% of the EU population, and then must gather a majority in the European Parliament.
Created in 1991, Mercosur, short for “common market of the south”, brings together five countries – Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and from 2023 Bolivia (which is not covered by the agreement). Another member state, Venezuela, has been suspended since 2016.
