Florian Couveinhes Matsumoto and Sabrina Robert, Professors of Public Law and International Law, have produced for the Veblen Institute an in-depth analysis of the “Rebalancing Mechanism” of the EU-MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement. Available in French here.
Of the many concerns raised by the current version of the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement adopted on 6 December 2024, those relating to the inclusion of a “rebalancing mechanism” in the chapter on dispute settlement (article XX.4 (b)) are perhaps the most serious. This mechanism was added in response to a request from Mercosur Member States that the EU give them greater policy space for their industrial development. This mechanism raises questions about the risks it may pose to the efforts of the EU and its Member States to address the environmental emergency and, more generally, to reconcile social, economic and environmental issues within the framework of EU trade policy.
