By Michel Rose
PARIS (Reuters) -France is not against a long-delayed trade deal with South America’s Mercosur bloc, but doesn’t want to rush negotiations it says would risk its rejection by European parliaments if environmental and social concerns were not addressed.
The European Commission has said it is a priority to conclude a deal, more than 20 years in the making, with the Mercosur bloc of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, as the European Union seeks new allies to reduce its dependence on China and the United States.
France, where the deal is unpopular with local farmers, wants the Mercosur side to agree to various additional commitments, notably on respecting EU rules on deforestation, before it can back it.
“We need to give time, time,” Olivier Becht, France’s trade minister, told Reuters in an interview from Brazil where he was meeting ministers and business representatives.
“We obviously need to wrap up. It’s been 23 years that talks are ongoing. But the fact it took 23 years means it can take a couple of extra months too,” he said.
Spain, which will hold the EU’s rotating presidency for six months from July 1, is keen to conclude a deal with countries it has close historical, business and linguistic ties.
Becht said he will travel to Spain next week to tell his Spanish counterparts he understood the strategic value of the deal, but that rushing a deal would risk meeting resistance from EU lawmakers who need to approve the deal.
“If at the end it’s not a good deal and is not acceptable by public opinion and the European parliament, we will have done all this work for nothing,” Becht said.
He also added that France will ask for all national parliaments in the EU to be given a say on the deal, because of the political nature of the agreement. Trade policy is an EU prerogative and votes in national parliaments are not automatic.
“France will request national parliaments to be given a vote,” he said.
Pointing at votes in the Dutch and Austrian parliaments, as well as concerns in Ireland and Belgium, Becht said France had allies on the issue. “France is not isolated,” he said.
(Reporting by Michel RoseEditing by GV De Clercq and Paul Simao)
