“We cannot confirm the exact date for this yet,” Gill told POLITICO.
It is however likely that this exchange of notes will still take place in March — allowing the EU and Mercosur to remove tariffs on a series of goods as of May.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced at the end of February that Brussels would provisionally implement the controversial agreement with the bloc that comprises Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The accord, more than 25 years in the making, will create a free-trade area of 720 million people.
The move sparked a backlash from critics who said the step short-circuited the deal’s formal approval by EU lawmakers. The European Parliament in January sent it for review by the Court of Justice of the European Union, effectively freezing its final ratification for up to two years.
But the step is procedurally possible after EU member countries voted in January to authorize von der Leyen to go ahead. Opponents of the deal, led by France and Poland, opposed the deal but failed to muster the requisite blocking minority to stop it.
Von der Leyen then signed the deal in Paraguay, and Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil have since ratified the agreement.
Under the interim agreement, Mercosur would remove tariffs on more than 90 percent of European exports. Some would be abolished immediately, while others such as for autos, would be reduced gradually. EU exporters would save €4 billion per year, the Commission estimates.
The interim agreement would remain in effect until final ratification, after which it would be replaced by a comprehensive trade deal and investment agreement.