Why Saturday’s event might finally make an honest woman out of Ursula von der Leyen

(And why she has to fly all the way to Montevideo, Uruguay to make it happen)

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2026

If you don’t like politicians lying, you might actually enjoy this one!

Tomorrow the spotlight moves, and turns on our very own Sir Keir, in this sorry tale.

We will bring things slap bang up-to-date! However, today, here is the illuminating background, which itself is unmissable!!

On Saturday, all being well, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will fly all the way to Montevideo, capital city of Uruguay. She is going there to take part in a ceremony where she is the star of one of the two parties to the events.

Unless anything changes between now and then, which is always possible, this event will finally make an honest woman out of her.

No-one likes to see their politicians being caught out in a brazen lie. When this happens many times over several years, it becomes even more uncomfortable – particularly when it’s the same lie each time. You might think they would have learnt their lesson the first time, but no.

One aspect of life in the EU, however, is that not only is this common practice, it also has the advantage for politicians that its media does not generally run critical pieces when it does. Anxious to correct the oversights, the Brexit Facts4EU team feels it is important to make a clean breast of these little porky pies, so that Ursula can make a fresh start next week. We feel sure she will thank us in the end.

The event in question has an unappealing name: the Mercosur deal

The event that has called the honesty of the EU Commission into question is the EU-Mercosur trade deal. The reason it is so important is because the EU claims it creates “the largest free trade area in the world.” Involving over 700 million people, this is certainly a big claim.

On Saturday, Ms von der Leyen is flying to Montevideo to sign the papers for the EU Commission. She has to do this for two deals, in fact: a political deal and an “interim Trade Agreement” (iTA). It is of course the latter which most people care about – or they would if they had heard of it.

The grand unveiling

Regular readers will know that we have called out the EU and its bodies on many occasions over the years for being “economical with the truth”. Rarely, though, do they come with such visual aids as this one.

The story started some 26 years ago, but we will pick a few examples from more recent times. All we will say about the early years is they were typical in terms of their ‘stop-start’ nature. Here is an early timeline.

1999 EU Council negotiating directives
2000 Negotiations underway
2004 Negotiations suspended
2010 Negotiations resumed
2012 Negotiations suspended
May 2016 Negotiations resumed

We start our examples with Ms von der Leyen’s predecessor as President of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. Here is one of his announcements, as we reported it.

"It takes two to tango in South America"

In 2019 this deal was triumphantly announced by the EU Commission, then led by Jean-Claude Juncker, after 20 years of talks. Bizarrely the announcement was made in Osaka, Japan.

“We stand before you as the proud co-owners of a trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur.
“I like to use words with care but this is a truly historic moment. This agreement has been two decades in the making. The negotiations started 20 years ago yesterday – on 28 June 1999 in Rio de Janeiro! They have been long – and often tough – and we've come close before, but today we finally delivered.”
- EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Osaka, 29 June 2019

On 05 Dec 2023 (well after it fell apart) we wrote about this, saying: “To this day the EU Commission’s website continues to parade the following.”

“The EU has concluded a trade agreement with the four founding members of Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) as part of a bi-regional Association Agreement.”
“On 28 June 2019, the European Union and Mercosur reached a political agreement for an ambitious, balanced and comprehensive trade agreement covering issues such as tariffs; rules of origin; technical barriers to trade; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; services; government procurement; intellectual property; sustainable development, and; small- and medium-sized enterprises.”

Jean-Claude Juncker and his EU Commission spoke too soon. It simply was not true that they had concluded a trade deal. This constitutes gross disinformation.

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Now we move on, rattling through some more lies - JULY 2019

DECEMBER 2024

Finally we come to the events surrounding this Saturday. This time, for once, the Commission chose not to announce the news. Perhaps the embarrassment had grown too much. However, this memo does not seem to have arrived in Brazil, where the EU delegation published this:-

JANUARY 2026

For those readers whose Brazilian (Portuguese) is a bit rusty, here is what this says:

“EU-Mercosur: Council authorises the signing of partnership and trade agreement"
09.01.2026, BRAZIL

- EU Delegation to Brazil

It goes on to say:

“The Council of the European Union today adopted two decisions authorising the signing of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (EMPA) and the Interim Trade Agreement (ITA) between the EU and Mercosur.”

- EU Delegation to Brazil

TOMORROW - What has Sir Keir got to do with this report? Find out tomorrow!

We are publishing an exclusive report with GB News which makes today’s report highly relevant to the UK. We have already given this to GB News, who will publish just after midnight tonight. Please come back tomorrow to see why it’s so relevant to the UK and to Sir Keir Starmer!

Observations

Tomorrow, readers will find out what crucial role Sir Keir Starmer plays in this sorry tale. All we can tell you now, is that it is probably not what you think!

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[ Sources: EU Commission | EU Diplomatic Service, Brazil ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Wed 14 Jan 2026

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Reader Comments 4

1. Old Albion , Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 08:49:

The EU telling lies!!! surely not .......................

2. NH , Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 12:16:

Sadly this will not make an honest woman of Ursula. Already 140 lawyers are questioning the legal basis for the deal as it breaches the EU treaties. They are demanding it is sent to the EU court of justice for a legal review. This is likely to take up to 2 years. The EU is rushing the deal through, if you call 27 years rushing, because it fears the outcome of the French election in 2027.
.
Ursula only manged to get an agreement by using 45 Billion Euros of bribes mainly to separate Italy from France. This has outraged many Norther EU nations as the money was taken from the EU Emergency Budget. This is not an emergency and the EU had promised to reduce the funding for farmers.
.
The other sad news for Ursula is China has just announced a record trade surplus. Exports to the USA have declined but they have surged to the EU and Latin America. China is taking a case to the WTO to complain about the EU's EV tariffs. This has resulted in the EU proposing a "minimum price" for EV's. So EU consumers will have to pay higher prices !

3. Mr Sceptic , Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 14:20:

Interesting development
1/ EU car manufacturers will welcome lower tariffs with the South American countries.
2/ It could avoid both the EU and the South American countries being squeezed by both USA and China.
3/ Trump won’t like it.

4. Gazzablack , Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 22:30:

3, septic
.
You mean it will benefit Germany
France, Hungary and Ireland who all voted against the deal? Not so much.
.
And considering that Brazil has a vibrant automotive industry, while Germany has saddled itself with sky high energy costs, I'm not too sure it will be of benefit to Germany either.
.
.
Important to note that the deal will be imposed on Austria, Poland, France, Hungary and Ireland against their parliamentary will.
.
France will be seething about it's diminishing influence within the bloc.
Get ready for the infighting.
.
And Trump won't care

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