Overview

• The College of Commissioners is expected to adopt the pact today, beginning the formal process before EU member states and the European Parliament.
• Brussels plans reinforced safeguard clauses for sensitive agricultural products, pledging to act if certain sectors are harmed, without reopening talks with Mercosur.
• Paris has not given a green light as French farm unions remain opposed, and domestic parties from RN to LFI vow resistance, while MEP Pascal Canfin readies a move to delay the vote.
• The agreement would open Latin American markets to more EU cars, machinery and spirits and, according to the Commission, save European exporters over €4 billion a year in tariffs.
• Increased access for South American meat, sugar, rice, honey and soy worries EU producers in beef, poultry, sugar and ethanol, even as Germany presses for swift approval and Brussels targets a deal by end-2025 under Lula’s Mercosur chairmanship.