Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has threatened to vote against a trade deal between the EU and South American trade bloc Mercosur if Brazil, where fires continue to ravage the Amazon rainforest, does not take its environmental commitments more seriously. “This is the main shortcoming of this agreement and it is the main reason why France, in its current form, rejects the draft agreement,” he added. France remains opposed to a free trade agreement as currently proposed between the EU and South American countries because of “big” concerns about deforestation in the region, the government said on Friday (September 18th). The deal has been denounced by European beef producers, environmental activists and indigenous rights activists. [5] [10] There have been protests against the agreement. [5] [11] The governments and parliaments of EU Member States have also criticised the agreement. In October 2020, both the European Parliament [12] and the European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis [13], declared that the EU-Mercosur agreement “cannot be approved as it stands”. Discover the current trade relations between the EU and Mercosur On 10 November 2017, MERCOSUR Foreign Ministers met with the Vice-President of the European Commission, to whom they presented a comprehensive proposal to reach the Mercosur Agreement between the European Union. Negotiations will continue in 2018. Negotiations continued from 11 to 15 March 2019 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On 28 June 2019, MERCOSUR and the EU agree in Brussels, Belgium, on a comprehensive trade agreement. Following the adoption and publication of the “agreement in principle” of 17″, the 1st.