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Signing the EU-Mercosur deal in the following days is “premature,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said during an address to the Italian parliament in Rome on Wednesday.
Italy’s hesitation to back the agreement would likely scuttle the European Commission’s plan to sign the trade deal with South American countries on Saturday in Foz do Iguaçu, a border town between Argentina and Paraguay.
Italy’s position is pivotal, as France, Hungary, Poland and Austria oppose the deal. Ireland and the Netherlands, despite past opposition, have not officially declared their position. Belgium will abstain.
That leaves Italy in the spotlight, as the qualified majority is required to give European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen the mandate to sign it.
“It is necessary to wait for the package of additional measures to protect the agricultural sector to be finalised, explained and discussed with our farmers,” Meloni said in her address to the Italian Chamber of Deputies ahead of the EU Council summit on Thursday.
“This does not mean that Italy intends to block or oppose (the deal), but we intend to approve the agreement only when it includes adequate guarantees of reciprocity for our agricultural sector,” Meloni said.
“And I am very confident that with the beginning of the new year, all these conditions can be met.”
This is a developing story and our journalists are working on further updates.
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