“Let’s see if we can finalize an effective EU-Mercosur agreement this semester. It is the first thing I will dedicate myself to in my presidency,” Lula said after his Argentine colleague Alberto Fernández transferred to him the pro tempore presidency of Mercosur, at the closing of the leaders’ summit in the Argentine city of Puerto Iguazú. It was the bloc’s first face-to-face conclave since 2019.
Mercosur, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and the EU have spent years negotiating a trade agreement that made its greatest progress in 2019, when they signed a political agreement that was later stopped due to new environmental demands on the European side.
The Brazilian president also ratified his position of non-interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela, after his partners in the Uruguay and Paraguay block demanded a pronouncement against the disqualification of the opposition presidential candidate María Corina Machado to compete in the 2024 elections.
Venezuela has been suspended as a state party to Mercosur since 2017. Since then there has been no political agreement between the partners to review the sanction.
On the other hand, Lula promised to negotiate with the Congress of his country the endorsement for the incorporation of Bolivia as a full member of Mercosur, which has been delayed since 2015.
In the final declaration of the summit, which was not signed by Uruguay, the South American leaders reiterated their concern regarding the agreement with the European bloc “due to the evolution of legislative initiatives that could lead to trade restrictive measures that affect MERCOSUR agricultural exports and unilaterally upset the balance of the terms” agreed in principle in 2019.
Lula announced that on Wednesday he will hold a telephone conversation with the President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, who has just assumed the semi-annual presidency of the EU, because “he can help conclude this agreement.”
With a more pessimistic look, Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou indicated that “I wish President Lula the best of luck and I know that he will make an effort to negotiate with the European Union. (But) 25 years of negotiations have gone by, which in the modern world is not logical.”
“We know what we have for and against, let’s clear the obstacles to be able to finish,” said the Uruguayan president, a critic of the operation of Mercosur who advocates unilateral negotiations with other blocs.
“Definitely, we believe that in a world that is once again commercially polarized between the US and China, we consider the possibility of building an EU-Mercosur axis very valuable and we want to improve it. We need the EU to review some things”, said the host Fernández.
FUENTE: Associated Press
