Madam President,

Esteemed colleagues,

There’s virtually nothing we enjoy hearing more than news of promising prospects for the German economy and increasing trade volumes. So let me say this: thank goodness we have Mercosur, because this free trade agreement provides exactly that kind of pleasing news. We’re talking here about one of the world’s largest free trade zones, with more than 715 million people.

The trade pillar has been applied provisionally for just over 150 days now, and it has brought very tangible simplifications for our businesses. We are seeing tariffs falling. We are finding better access to public procurement and service markets in Latin America.

Esteemed colleagues, Mercosur is having an impact.

Take Brazil, for example. In August 2026, EU exports to Brazil rose by almost 12% compared to last year. In the other direction, exports from Brazil to the European Union have risen by more than 46%! So we can see very clearly how dynamic these new partnerships are.

We are hearing from enthusiastic German businesses who now want to make use of the simplified access to critical raw materials. Things like rare earths from Brazil or copper from Argentina. This is diversification. And that at a time when some states have opted for protectionism, when trade barriers and tariffs are being used as bargaining chips. We are committed to free trade!

It is imperative that we become more independent, particularly when it comes to raw materials sources. In that regard, the EU-Mercosur Agreement leads us down the right road. German industry, European industry, will benefit. German companies, European companies, and of course companies in the Mercosur states will benefit. The people in the countries concerned will benefit from affordable prices and from common standards, and in the end that’s what it comes down to.

Let me look a little further into the future, to 2040. The EU-Mercosur Agreement is forecast to increase the European Union’s GDP by more than 77 billion euro. That’s an enormous amount.

Key sectors of the German economy in particular – our mechanical engineering, car industry and chemicals sector – will get a tremendous boost. But there is great potential in other areas too, such as cleantech or services.

One thing is especially important to me: the EU-Mercosur Agreement is more than a clever trade deal. This economic milestone is also an important political signal, a sign that we, as democracies worldwide, stand together and are committed to rules-based trade, a sign that we are capable of action, even when thousands of kilometres separate us. We the Federal Government are therefore nurturing direct lines of communication with the countries concerned. Most recently, I myself travelled to Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil with a business delegation in June – because that is foreign policy that combines economic common sense with shared values.

Whenever I am on a trip like that, I act in accordance with our national interests, but also in line with European goals. Because if we are to be able to assert ourselves on the world stage at all, then we have to bring our full European weight to bear.

That is precisely why I remain committed to an ambitious, proactive EU free trade agenda. We are working towards similar agreements not only with Mercosur or Canada, where CETA has increased trade by over 80%, but also with other parts of the world, for example India or Indonesia. We are optimising existing agreements so that our German, our European, companies can make even better use of them, so that our big thick agreements turn into tangible economic advantages.

Esteemed colleagues, it also has to be said that we are not at the end of the journey with the EU-Mercosur Agreement. For it to enter into full force, we need it to be ratified by all EU member states and approved by the European Parliament. It is right that the European Parliament has referred the Agreement to the ECJ for a legal opinion. However, the Federal Government is firmly convinced that the Agreement is in conformity with the EU Treaties. We emphasised that clearly again in our own statement. And we are equally sure that the provisional application and the tangible results we have already seen will win over critics of the Agreement.

Esteemed colleagues, we have started an engine that is already running smoothly on the first few metres of its journey. Now we need to make sure that we keep the entire vehicle steady and, above all, on the road for a long time. Please support this bill.

Thank you.