Argentina took the lead and became, just before midnight on Thursday, the first country in Mercosur, a bloc also formed by Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, to obtain the first legislative approval of the long-awaited trade agreement with the EU, when it was approved by the Chamber of Deputies.
Despite the ideological differences between the governments of the Mercosur countries, they all fully support this trade agreement, which has been in development for more than 25 years, and now the leaders have started a race to be the first to ratify it, even though the process has been challenged in court in Europe.
The pact was signed on January 17 in Asunción, after arduous negotiations. This agreement creates an integrated economic space with more than 700 million people, representing around 30% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and around 35% of global trade, according to EU data.
Although the presidents of the four Mercosur countries sent the project to their congresses seeking rapid ratification, it was the Argentine president, Javier Milei, who acted most quickly, deciding to include it on the agenda of the extraordinary sessions in February, before the official start of the ordinary legislative period on March 1, after the summer recess.
Milei presented the project to the Legislature on February 6, convinced that “the agreement presents numerous benefits” for Argentina.
A few days before the Argentinean, on February 2, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) sent the Mercosur-EU agreement to the Brazilian Congress to begin the ratification process on the first day of the 2026 legislative sessions, a gesture with which he seeks to speed up the process.
Lula wants it to be a quick process because, in his view, the Mercosur-EU agreement opens “a new cycle of opportunities” for Brazilian companies, strengthening the country’s competitiveness, expanding exports and attracting investment.
The president of the Chamber of Representatives, Hugo Motta, promised to streamline the process and announced that the proposal will be voted on in a plenary session of the Chamber in the “week following Carnival”, that is, in the last week of February, before being forwarded to the Senate.
Other countries seek to move forward with an agreement
The Uruguayan government submitted the draft agreement for ratification to Parliament on February 10, being the last to do so, but hopes to conclude it in February and be the first to ratify it.
The debate is scheduled to begin next Tuesday, when representatives from different ministries and delegations from the productive and labor sectors will defend it.
The Uruguayan government of progressive President Yamandú Orsi described the document as of great importance due to the significant economic impact it will have on the country.
In turn, the president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, welcomed in his country the signing of the most awaited agreement in decades and believes that, after ratification by national parliaments, Mercosur will be “the best platform” to connect other regions of the world.
Last Thursday, Peña presented the association agreement to the Permanent Committee of his country’s Congress – which meets during the parliamentary recess – for ratification and shared the benefits of the agreement with the unions.
Paraguay, with 6.1 million inhabitants, holds the pro tempore presidency of Mercosur and sees this agreement as opportunities for its export products and investments.
Agreement remains paralyzed in Europe
Although Mercosur governments are speeding up procedures, in Europe ratification can take up to two years, as the process has been judicialized and turned into a dispute.
For the agreement signed in Asunción on January 17 to come into force, it needs to be ratified by at least one Mercosur country and the European Union.
The European Parliament cannot ratify it until the EU Court of Justice has ruled, but legally the European Commission could decide to start applying it provisionally without waiting for the European Parliament.
The European Commission has not yet clarified whether it will implement the agreement provisionally, although the President of the European Council, António Costa, has urged the Commission to apply the agreement as soon as it is ratified by one of the Mercosur partners, as the 27 Member States have already approved it.
