Romania's Parliament must adopt the law ratifying the EU-Mercosur Agreement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) said on Tuesday.
According to legislation governing the approval of the signing, on behalf of Romania, of international treaties (in this case, the EU-Mercosur Agreement), the memorandum must undergo the internal endorsement and approval procedure prior to the signing of the agreement, the MAE said.
The cited source stressed that Romania's position in support of the EU-Mercosur Agreement represents an important trade policy decision and an opportunity for economic development, with implications also from a foreign policy perspective, and that the MAE acted in line with its role as set out in national legislation and with the decision-making procedures applied in similar cases.
Under Government Decision No. 34/2017 on the management of European affairs and Romania's participation in EU decision-making, instructions for COREPER meetings (at ambassadorial level) are issued by the MAE on the basis of position papers submitted by the institution responsible for the relevant policy area.
The same European affairs coordination procedures, in force since 2017 under Government Decision No. 34, have been applied consistently by the MAE, including with regard to Romania's position in COREPER and the Council on the EU-Chile Agreement concluded in 2023.
"The negotiations on the EU-Mercosur Agreement were conducted through trade channels and at political leadership level, resulting in additional resources for Romanian farmers, a safeguard clause in the event of a 5% variation in prices and volumes of imported agricultural products, and stricter controls on compliance with sanitary and veterinary rules for agricultural imports from Mercosur. All these elements are in line with the vote of representatives of the governing coalition parties in the European Parliament. Moreover, the Agreement does not provide for full liberalisation of trade in agricultural products, but only within strict quantitative limits for imports of sensitive products, amounting to just 1-1.5% of total imports, as well as the application of EU standards to imported products," the MAE said.
Overall, the process has two legal components: one concerning the way in which the European Union becomes a party to the Agreement, and the other concerning the way in which Romania becomes a party.
The final stage of the EU-level decision-making process on expressing consent for the European Union to become a party to the Agreement is the vote of the European Parliament.
"The memorandum referred to in the public space is not required at the current stage. It represents a legal requirement for a later stage of the process, when the signing of the EU-Mercosur Agreement on behalf of Romania is approved through such a memorandum," the MAE added.
Romania voted in favour of the trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur states - Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay - after negotiating, alongside other European states, additional safeguards to protect Romanian and European producers, particularly in the agricultural sector, President Nicusor Dan said on Friday.
"Through this agreement, which will lead to the creation of one of the largest free trade areas in the world, European countries will increase their presence in an important trading region, while Romania will gain the opportunity to export products exempt from the high customs duties that had applied until now," the head of state wrote on the X social network.
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