Pressure from the Spanish Government for EU countries to ratify the trade agreement with Mercosur

Spain puts pressure on the countries of the European Union (EU) to get the ratification of the agreement with the Mercosur bloc. elDiario.es has had access to the cables of a meeting between the European Commission and the Member States, held on March 11 behind closed doors, which record the intense lobbying work of the Spanish Government with the intention of twisting the arm of the wayward governments in the EU before the trade agreement. This Thursday the EU foreign affairs council on trade meets where the current status of the trade agreement will be discussed with a view to its definitive ratification. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, was convinced last week during the IV Ceapi Ibero-American Congress that the trade agreement was going to be approved "sooner rather than later." Negotiations started in 1999 and the trade agreement was signed in 2019.