Yet another EU trade deal falls apart
Over 24 years of negotiations once again the EU failed to reach a trade agreement
If the UK re-joined, it wouldn’t be able to talk to any country about trade and all UK deals would be nulled, it's funny how Rejoiners always fail to mention these facts when shouting for the UK to rejoin.
24 years of talks — now on hold again
“It takes two to tango in South America”
In 2019 this deal was triumphantly announced by the EU Commission, then led by Jean-Claude Juncker, after 20 years of talks. Bizarrely the announcement was made in Osaka, Japan.
“We stand before you as the proud co-owners of a trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur.
“I like to use words with care but this is a truly historic moment. This agreement has been two decades in the making. The negotiations started 20 years ago yesterday — on 28 June 1999 in Rio de Janeiro! They have been long — and often tough — and we’ve come close before, but today we finally delivered.”
- EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Osaka, 29 June 2019
To this day the EU Commission’s website continues to parade the following
“The EU has concluded a trade agreement with the four founding members of Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) as part of a bi-regional Association Agreement.”
“On 28 June 2019, the European Union and Mercosur reached a political agreement for an ambitious, balanced and comprehensive trade agreement covering issues such as tariffs; rules of origin; technical barriers to trade; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; services; government procurement; intellectual property; sustainable development, and; small- and medium-sized enterprises.”
Jean-Claude Juncker and his EU Commission spoke too soon. It simply was not true that they had concluded a trade deal. This constitutes gross disinformation.
The influence of the British people on the EU after the EU Referendum
In 2016 the EU experienced a cataclysmic event. One so large that even the Commission could not hide it. The British people voted to leave the EU’s empire.
Because trade had featured in the Referendum campaign, and because the EU Commission’s lamentable performance in securing international trade deals had been highlighted the Commission suddenly became galvanised. Trade deals became all the rage.
The problem is that the Commission kept announcing deals as if they were done when they were not. Another example of this is the EU-Australian trade deal The Australians finally walked away from this in October, as I reported at the time.
On many previous occasions, I have shown how the EU Commission has a habit of announcing the same ‘good news’ many times over, well before anything is watertight and agreed upon. Like ‘Pravda’ in Soviet times, the EU Commission only publishes good news. (“Monthly tractor production up again!”)
At the time of writing, there is not one word about this new, massive setback in South America for the EU on the news section of its website.
If the United Kingdom re-joined the EU…
On re-joining the EU the United Kingdom would immediately be prevented from having discussions on trade deals with any other country.
In addition, all the trade deals the independent United Kingdom has now struck with other countries would have to be cancelled, causing a huge amount of work as well as doing immense damage to the UK’s reputation abroad.
Even if the EU Commission does agree on a trade deal…
On top of all of this, any trade deals supposedly struck by the EU Commission then have to be ratified by all the parliaments in 27 member countries. In some cases, this involves two parliaments in the same country, which have what are called ‘bicameral’ parliaments. This process can take a very long time.
Rejoiners have questions to answer
Extremist, anti-democratic Rejoiners are forever asking for ‘the benefits of Brexit’, no matter how many I
research and publish. Well here’s another one. The UK does trade deals in two years and the EU struggles in 24 years.
It must be said that the EU Commission’s performance in negotiating international trade agreements has been pitiful since it took over sole and exclusive responsibility for all trade relations outside the EU. Member states are forbidden to have any trade talks themselves. Even after the UK voted to leave, when the Commission suddenly woke up and ramped up its efforts, the results have been dismal.
The Commission, disinformation, and state-sponsored censorship
What is perhaps most embarrassing about these failures is that the Commission trumpets its supposed achievements loudly regularly, only for all of us to find subsequently that they were whistling in the trade winds. When it comes to the supposed deal with the Mercosur countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, (announced in 2019), it must be considered a scandal that not only have these talks lasted for 24 years, but there is still no deal in sight, despite the fact the Commission announced this four years ago. This is disinformation if ever we saw it. lying in other words something Rejoiners are very good at.
I would love to see any Rejoiner try to address this point directly, without immediately trying to deflect onto a completely different subject.
Finally, it is ironic that the Commission has been spending time on new anti-disinformation laws when it is, itself, guilty. I consider an EU world where free speech is under attack and where differing opinions are in effect being censored by the state to be a chilling world indeed.
I think this sums it all up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqyUAtzS_6M
Sources: EU Commission | Mercosur
