{"id":682668,"date":"2026-01-08T17:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T17:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/682668\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T17:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T17:27:11","slug":"sanchez-keeps-his-fingers-crossed-that-the-agreement-with-mercosur-will-be-signed-in-the-coming-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/682668\/","title":{"rendered":"S\u00e1nchez keeps his fingers crossed that the agreement with Mercosur will be signed in the coming days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madrid \u2013 The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/strong>, has assured that he is \u201ckeeping his fingers crossed\u201d so that the signing of the agreement between the EU and Mercosur finally takes place soon, since he considers that it would represent a \u201cgiant step\u201d toward strengthening the relationship between the Twenty-Seven and Latin America.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that we are, I\u2019m keeping my fingers crossed, on the verge of signing the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, for which Spain has worked hard,\u201d the president said during the inauguration of the Conference of Ambassadors at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n

His remarks come in view of the prospect that this very week the Twenty-Seven will authorize by qualified majority the negotiating mandate, which would pave the way for the signing of the agreement with the bloc made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to take place in the coming days.<\/p>\n

In the president\u2019s opinion, if after decades of negotiation the agreement is finally signed, the EU will be taking \u201ca giant step\u201d toward strengthening its relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

For S\u00e1nchez<\/strong>, at a time like the present, with the reorganization of the world order, \u201cEurope needs allies, it needs friends.\u201d \u201cI believe that if there is a continent with which we share many things, not only from the Spanish point of view, but also the European one, it is precisely the Ibero-American continent,\u201d he argued, stressing that \u201cLatin America cannot continue to be Europe\u2019s great forgotten region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along the same lines, he argued that Spain is also committed to \u201ctrade agreements with India, with Indonesia, with Mexico and the digital agreement with South Korea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Albares: \u201cThere are no more excuses to delay it\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares<\/strong>, also referred to the agreement with Mercosur. \u201cIt must be concluded, we have been dragging out this negotiation for 25 years, there are no more excuses to delay it,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

The minister drew attention to the fact that the EU and Mercosur would form \u201cthe most important free trade area in the world, with 700 million people, and that it would mean annual savings of more than 4 billion euros in tariffs.\u201d \u201cIt is not just a trade agreement, it is also the political commitment of partnership that we are offering to that region of the world,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n

The agreement is an opportunity, not a threat<\/p>\n

For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas<\/strong>, said that he sees Mercosur as a \u201cgreat opportunity\u201d and not as a \u201cthreat\u201d, and therefore he is confident that the trade agreement can be unblocked this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a serious mistake to see Mercosur as a threat, because it is a great opportunity, including for the agri-food sector,\u201d Planas said during a meeting with the media. \u201cTomorrow there is an important meeting of the Member States and I believe that we are in a position to reach a qualified majority to ratify Mercosur,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

The head of Agriculture, who yesterday attended a meeting of agriculture ministers in Brussels, insisted that this agreement \u201cis fundamental\u201d for the European Union, both from a commercial and a political point of view. \u201cI hope and wish that the qualified majority on Friday is confirmed, allowing us to reach that agreement, because its entry into force is a very important element,\u201d Planas stressed. (January 8)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Madrid \u2013 The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, has assured that he is \u201ckeeping his fingers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699],"class_list":{"0":"post-682668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115860658213018008","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}