Victory of Argentina's Milei could scupper EU-Mercosur trade deal

The political outsider has had a meteoric rise to power, only stepping onto the scene in 2021.

Transcript

00:00 The victory of Javier Millet in Argentina could derail the EU-Mercosur trade deal negotiations.

00:09 During his campaign, the hard right libertarian threatened to leave the trade bloc formed

00:12 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

00:16 If the agreement fails, the biggest loser would be the EU because it needs to expand

00:20 its influence in the region, according to some experts.

00:25 Not reaching a deal with the Mercosur countries and not ratifying this association agreement

00:29 would be a great loss for the European Union, not only on the economic front but also in

00:34 terms of symbolics and the politics of its relationships with Latin America.

00:38 The EU has been trying hard to reassert its influence in Latin America in the last few

00:43 years, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when the EU tries to gather as

00:48 many allies as possible.

00:51 Despite these difficulties, Brussels still congratulated Millet and says it intends to

00:55 maintain the partnership in particular by finalizing negotiations on the EU-Mercosur

00:59 agreement as soon as possible.

01:03 The trade treaty was agreed in principle in 2019 after two decades of talks, but additional

01:08 environmental commitments demanded by the EU this year led Brazil and Argentina to seek

01:13 new concessions that prolonged negotiations.

01:17 Now the election of a climate change denier as Millet is could become another argument

01:21 for some EU member states, especially France and Austria, to drop the deal.

01:26 Well, a new government in Argentina that denies the effects of climate change will certainly

01:32 constitute a new obstacle, especially from an European Union point of view, and especially

01:37 taking into consideration the positions taken also by the European Parliament.

01:42 But at the same time, the most important country in these negotiations when it comes to climate

01:46 change is the one country that has the Amazon forest, which is Brazil.

01:50 And that`s where we`re going to see most of the negotiations taking place.

01:55 The next Mercosur summit is scheduled for December the 7th in Rio de Janeiro.

02:00 Some are already tempted to push for a decision by then before Millet takes office just some

02:04 days after.

02:05 (Cheers)

02:09 [SWOOSH]