What looks like a distant trade deal between Europe and South America is fast becoming a problem for Europe’s biggest political party. The Mercosur agreement is forcing the European People’s Party (EPP) to choose between its rural voters and the export interests of its largest economies.
That choice is now playing out inside the EPP itself, as long-stalled EU-Mercosur talks reach a critical moment. The main fault line runs between two delegations with sharply opposing economic and strategic interests: Spain and Germany.
The Spanish EPP delegation arrives under mounting political pressure. Spain is one of the EU’s leading agricultural producers, with farming and livestock sectors particularly vulnerable to cheaper imports. Although the Spanish People’s Party has long supported the EU’s climate and trade policies in Brussels—including measures that have raised costs for farmers—it continues to draw significant backing from rural voters.
That support is now under strain. Against a backdrop of recurring farmers’ protests and upcoming elections, open backing for the Mercosur agreement—widely viewed by producers as a direct threat to domestic agriculture—has become politically risky. As a result, the Spanish delegation has begun to cool its support for a treaty that until recently went largely unchallenged.
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