El Acuerdo de Asociación Estratégica MERCOSUR-UE ¿Una oportunidad para impulsar el desarrollo sostenible en el MERCOSUR?

This article aims to reflect on the MERCOSUR-EU Strategic Association Agreement, reached in 2019, and the opportunities that the implementation of the Chapter on Trade and Sustainable Development can provide. Asymmetries are recognized in relation to environmental issues in both groups. While the European Union bases its growth on a sustainable, inclusive, and circular development, MERCOSUR only included environmental protection in its sectoral policies in a rhetorically way. Yet, the commitments assumed in the Chapter could trigger MERCOSUR’s environmental agenda. To achieve it, the challenges are institutional dynamization to implement an agreement of magnitude; the need to diversify the export basket, promote production patterns consistent with increasing environmental and climatic requirements, and the coordination of actions within the framework of the Multilateral Agreements on the Environment (MEA), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and international cooperation.