"The devil is in the details," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday, referring to negotiations on a free trade agreement with Mercosur countries, which she said were "in their final stages" despite strong opposition from France.
In an interview with Brazilian news channel Globo News on the eve of the G20 summit she will attend Monday and Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro, the European leader acknowledged that convincing all countries in the two blocs to sign this free trade agreement is a "difficult task."
"We must include all 27 heads of state and government of the European Union, and from the Mercosur side, all members must be ready to sign as well," she said.
"The devil is always in the details. The last stage is the most important, but it is often the most difficult," she stressed.
The 27-nation European Union and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay) have been in talks for more than two decades on creating a huge free trade area covering more than 700 million people.
The agreement aims to reduce customs duties on imports of mainly European industrial and pharmaceutical goods, as well as on agricultural products.
The broad outlines of the agreement were agreed in 2019, but no final version has been ratified.
The EU appears determined to sign a free trade agreement with Mercosur countries by the end of the year, much to the dismay of France, which rejects the current formula.
"I told the Argentine president in all sincerity that France will not sign the Mercosur treaty in its current form," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on the tarmac at Buenos Aires airport before leaving for Brazil to attend the G20 summit, adding that Javier Milei "told me himself that he was not satisfied" with the text.
Paris is demanding that the text include respect for environmental and health standards and the outcomes of the Paris climate agreement.
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