European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Uruguay Thursday for the ultimate phases in years-long negotiations to clinch a commerce deal between the 27-nation EU and the South American Mercosur commerce bloc that might create a trans-Atlantic market of some 700 million individuals.

“The end line of the EU-Mercosur settlement is in sight. Let’s work, let’s cross it,” von der Leyen mentioned Thursday, sidestepping objections from some EU member states like France and protests by farmers throughout the bloc.

French President Emmanuel Macron, aware of his nation’s vocal and politically highly effective farming neighborhood, has described what was on the desk as “unacceptable.” If the cope with the South American bloc — comprising of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia — goes forward, EU producers must compete with South American agricultural exports reminiscent of beef, poultry and sugar.

“We’ll proceed to steadfastly defend our agricultural independence,” Macron mentioned Thursday.

As a result of the EU Fee negotiates commerce agreements for all 27 member states, von der Leyen might go forward with a provisional deal this weekend on the Mercosur summit in Uruguay, solely to see it flounder as a result of a number of members states refuse to enroll to it.

A draft deal was introduced in 2019, however disagreements over environmental, financial and political points have delaying its closing approval till now.

If the ultimate variations are bridged, the EU-Mercosur deal would embody an financial space masking nearly 1 / 4 of worldwide GDP. It will heart on lowering tariffs and commerce obstacles and make it simpler for companies on either side to export items.

Germany, with its large automobile trade, is an enormous proponent of the deal since it might make it a lot simpler and cheaper for Volkswagens, Audis and BMWs to be offered in Latin America.

Von der Leyen’s journey advised that technical points between the EU and the South American bloc have been settled and the highway was open for “the highest political degree to make the ultimate compromises to attempt to get a deal over the road,” mentioned Fee spokesman Olof Gill.

An enormous European farmers’ protest motion final yr despatched warning pictures to negotiators and on Thursday, protests from Belgian farmers added their voice by blocking border crossings. They are saying Mercosur producers can be allowed to flood the market with produce than don’t have to satisfy the strict EU environmental and animal safety requirements they need to abide by, thus unfairly undercutting the market. On prime of that, they are saying South American producers profit from decrease labor prices and bigger farms.

If von der Leyen clinches a deal, the Fee would nonetheless need to pour it into authorized textual content and solely at that stage would it not develop into clear if sure or all components should be authorised by unanimity or whether or not a particular majority amongst EU nations would suffice to make the deal closing.

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Tom Nouvian contributed from Paris