A delegation of six European parliamentarians on Friday called on the community bloc to speed up the ratification of the Association Agreement reached with the Mercosur countries and asked that the “additional” instrument on deforestation in the Amazon promoted by the EU entail “shared commitments” to both parties.
Source: EFE
The MEPs concluded a three-day visit to Paraguay on Friday, in the second leg of a journey that also took them to Uruguay.
At a press conference in Asunción, the president of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with Mercosur (DMER), Jordi Cañas, said he hoped that the ratification process of the Association Agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur, signed in 2019, after 20 years of negotiations.
“It will be the instrument we need to strengthen and reinforce our relations, not only commercial but also political and cooperation,” added the parliamentarian, for whom the agreement “will be the beginning” of what both blocs can do in the face of global challenges.
The pact has not yet entered into force because it depends on the ratification at the national level of all those involved and there are European countries that do not trust the environmental commitments of the Mercosur nations, a mechanism made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
This Wednesday, in Brussels, the European Commission considered it necessary for the agreement to be complemented by an “additional instrument” that addresses “real challenges” in terms of deforestation in the Amazon.
In this context, Cañas said he hopes that the EU complies with its proposal to present these “additional commitments” on the table in terms of the environment and deforestation, but he clarified that these “have to be shared, they have to oblige us all”.
“This is not something that only the Mercosur countries are going to have to do, these are additional commitments that reinforce the commitments of Europe and Mercosur to face climate change and deforestation,” he stated.
Regarding the meeting, the substitute Minister of Foreign Affairs, Raúl Silvero, indicated that they discussed the request that Paraguay made to the EU to send an electoral mission to the April 2023 elections, as well as cooperation issues in the areas of education. , the political participation of women, transnational organized crime and drug trafficking.
Mónica Silvana González MEP, vice president of the DMER, expressed to Efe her concern about the “little political incidence” and “little representation on electoral lists” of women, who represent 16% of the seats in the current legislative period, and drew attention to the trafficking of women and girls that, he warned, has Madrid among its destinations.
The visit is the first by a delegation from the European Parliament after the declaration of the covid-19 pandemic.
