Portugal must assume itself as a platform for Brazil in the EU-Mercosur agreement

“ Portugal here can gain a particularly relevant position as a point between the European Union and Brazil, Brazil being the largest economy in Mercosur,” said Vitalino Canas, in statements to Lusa regarding the Mercosur-EU Agreement Forum: Opportunities and Challenges, which FIBE promotes on December 3rd and 4th in Lisbon, and which will bring together several prominent figures from Brazil, countries of South America and Portugal in a debate on the geostrategic relevance and the legal-economic impacts of the treaty, as well as its effects for essential sectors.

According to the former Secretary of State, geographical, cultural and linguistic proximity, as well as the tradition of contacts between Portugal and Brazil, may lead Brazilian companies to use Portugal as a “platform” to take advantage of the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur.

On the Portuguese side, Vitalino Canas also pointed out opportunities for traditional sectors of national exports, such as wine and olive oil, which currently face difficulties in entering the Brazilian market due to taxation.

“Just visit Brazil and order a wine in a restaurant and it turns out that Portuguese wines are always very expensive due to the taxation that exists,” he said, comparing the situation with that of Chilean and Argentine wines.

“ Of course this will not happen in the first months or in the first years, this will gradually have its impacts ", stressed.

The free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur entered into force provisionally on 1 May following a decision adopted by the European Commission and after the parliaments of the four founding members of the South American bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay) ratified the treaty.

The full entry into force will depend on ratification by the European Parliament, which awaits an opinion from the EU Court of Justice on the compatibility of the agreement with the Community Treaties.

The agreement continues to face resistance in countries such as France and Poland, major agro-industrial producers, a sector in which Mercosur members are highly competitive worldwide.

The agreement gradually eliminates tariffs for 91% of EU exports to Mercosur and 92% of South American sales to Europe, opening up a joint market of over 700 million consumers and together representing a gross domestic product (GDP) of approximately 22 billion dollars (EUR 19 billion), according to European Commission data.