By Angelo Amante and Giuseppe Fonte
ROME, Dec 17 (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday she was not ready to back a trade agreement between the European Union and the South American trade bloc Mercosur, dealing a blow to hopes of finalising the deal in the coming days.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had been expected to fly to Brazil at the end of this week to sign the accord, reached a year ago after a quarter-century of talks with the bloc of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Confirming an earlier Reuters report, Meloni sided with France in calling for a delay in approving the deal, which is opposed by other countries including Poland.
“The Italian government has always been clear in saying that the agreement must be beneficial for all sectors and that it is therefore necessary to address, in particular, the concerns of our farmers,” Meloni said, addressing the lower house of parliament.
She told lawmakers that it would be “premature” to sign the deal before a further package of measures to be agreed with the EU Commission to protect farmers is fully finalised, adding the deal needed adequate reciprocity guarantees for the agricultural sector.
“We must wait until these measures are finalised and, at the same time, explain and discuss them with our farmers,” she said.
Germany, Spain and Nordic countries say the agreement will help exports hit by U.S. tariffs and reduce dependence on China by providing access to minerals.
EU lawmakers backed on Tuesday tighter controls on imports of agricultural products under the proposed deal, but Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party said the measures were still not sufficient to ensure farmers could compete on even terms.
“This does not mean that Italy intends to block or oppose the agreement as a whole … I am very confident that, come the start of next year, all these conditions can be met,” Meloni said.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante, Giuseppe Fonte and Alvise Armellini, editing by Keith Weir)
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