Alternatives for a fair and sustainable partnership between the EU and Mercosur:

In its annual report on the Common Foreign and Security Policy adopted on 28 February 2024, the European Parliament however included a call to “the Commission and the Spanish and Belgian Council Presidencies to advance decisively and conclude the agreement with Mercosur before the end of the current parliamentary term, while keeping the highest level of ambition in relation to the enforcement of i. [...] The first section provides an in-depth legal analysis of the current text of the EU-Mercosur agreement and the so-called “side letters” issued by each of the two Parties to address a number of issues that stand in the way of a ratification, in particular those related to environmental protection and the deal’s environmental impacts. [...] BOX - Policy Recommendations To build future relations between the EU and Mercosur in the pursuit of sustainability for people and ecosystems, and regardless of the form and modalities of the partnership, authors have drawn up the following principles and action points, as a compass for decision-makers and negotiators on both sides of the Atlantic. [...] Among MEAs, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement, the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, the Montreal Protocol, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. [...] See below the example on climate change: A Party shall not adopt or maintain any measure that weakens or reduces the level of climate protection provided by the Party’s law and practices, and by the enforcement thereof, below the level provided by the common commitments and targets applicable in the Union and the United Kingdom at the end of the transition period, and by their enforcement.33 Equal.