Just after the celebration, the deal fell apart, and von der Leyen faced three major blows, with EU credibility shattered!
On January 24, Politico reported: "After 25 years of negotiations, the EU and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) officially signed a free trade agreement last week, but it was quickly 'put on hold' by the European Parliament. This vote, decided by just 10 votes, sent the agreement into 18 to 24 months of judicial review, revealing the rift between France and Germany, as well as factional infighting within the political groups. This is just the beginning of von der Leyen's trade dilemma: the US-EU agreement is frozen due to Trump's tariff threats, the India-EU talks are stuck over car tariffs and carbon taxes, and even avoiding agricultural issues, it still faces the precedent of the failed Australia-EU talks. The EU trade team, once proudly celebrating, now finds itself in an embarrassing situation of 'signing but not approving,' severely damaging its external credibility."
[Clever] From the Australia-EU talks collapsing over beef quotas, to the MERCOSUR agreement being put on hold just after signing, the EU's trade policy has long become a "term for internal infighting." After 25 years of effort, it was defeated by internal factional struggles. The so-called "largest free trade area in the world" is nothing more than a self-directed political show. Von der Leyen claims to advocate for trade diversification, yet she can't control the protectionist calculations of member states, even her own party group is turning against her. More ironically, the India-EU talks were called "the mother of all agreements," yet they have to rely on cutting out agricultural issues to survive, forgetting that trade is never about avoiding the heavy topics. The EU is no longer the leading force of multilateralism it once was, but rather a typical example of "negotiating for a long time, approving with difficulty, and implementing slowly." With such constant turmoil, who would still consider it a reliable partner?
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1855207285509120/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.