OCAA held a debate to critically analyze the instrument that seeks to strengthen the environmental commitments assumed by the member countries of the Agreement
Discussed for more than 20 years, the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur was back in the news in March, when the EU proposal for a side letter was leaked. This is an additional instrument that seeks to reinforce the environmental commitments of the Agreement. In order to make a critical analysis of the document, the Observatory for Trade and the Environment in the Amazon (OCAA) held a webinar that was moderated by Cintya Feitosa, the advisor for International Relations at iCS. According to Pedro da Motta Veiga, director of the Center for Studies of Integration and Development (CINDES), the side letter raised several questions in Brazil, from the perspective that it makes voluntary commitments binding in the climate sphere, such as those of the Paris Agreement.
Lia Valls, a professor at the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and an associate researcher at the Brazilian Institute of Economics (IBRE), of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), stated that there is a division in the government. “One part of it is clearly signaling that it wants the Agreement, but that it requires the revision [of some points]. Another part considers it is more important to enter into the Agreement [notwithstanding].”
