French Finance Minister called for "monitoring the implementation" of the Mercosur-EU agreement

The Minister of the Economy of France, Bruno Le Maire, defended on Friday the agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur, but urged its counterparts of the old continent to "monitor the conditions of the application" so that the mutual benefits do not turn into damage for some signatory countries.

"You have to be very vigilant with the application of the agreement to make sure that the producers of this trading block meet health, environmental and animal welfare standards that we accept, "he said at an economic forum in Aix-en-Provence.

Mercosur and the European Union agreed on 28 June to approve the free-trade agreement negotiated over the last 20 years, so as to benefit the inhabitants of the two blocks, ie around 770 million people.

In this scenario, The Mayor estimated: "The wealth of farmers, producers of milk, pork and beef, is the ability to export our products because it creates wealth in France."

The French Minister of Economy then revealed that President Emmanuel Macron had managed to "safeguard clause" under which that country may "immediately suspend the application of the agreement" if the rest does not comply with the application conditions.

The countries that are part of the EU are the first six, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlandsand the 22 who joined the bloc later, including Austria, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Poland and Portugal. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the United Kingdom promoted the Brexit, that is to say leave the block, but they quickly postponed the exit to October 31st.

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the four founding states of Mercosur, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, while Venezuela joined in 2006, but was then suspended by peers for the political crisis that runs through the Nicolás Maduro government, which they accused of systematically violating the human rights of its inhabitants.

In the meantime, Bolivia has yet to ratify its accession, the last step in becoming a "State Party". Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana and Suriname are not included in the list, but they have been added as "Associated States".