Mercosur meets without a response to the EU on the horizon

The rulers of the mercosur They meet Monday and Tuesday at the Argentina Puerto Iguazú, without a detailed project to respond to the environmental demands of the European Union in the negotiations for a free trade agreement, while the dissatisfactions of Uruguay with the South American bloc.

The summit, with the imposing Iguazú Falls in the background, will bring together the Argentine president Alberto Fernández, and his peers from Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou; Paraguay, Mario Abdo, and the Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will receive the bloc’s pro tempore presidency until the end of the year.

But outside of the decisions of the heads of state will be one of the most important issues on the agenda of the mercosurwhich comprises 62% of the South American population and 67% of its GDP.

A detailed response to the new European environmental demands will not come out of the meeting, which since they were leaked in March have created a cloud of mutual mistrust and cast doubt on any completion of the Mercosur-EU agreement reached in 2019.

“We are very close to presenting our evaluations to Mercosur partners,” said Mauricio Carvalho, Secretary of Economic and Financial Affairs of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry. It is assumed that there will not be enough time to reach a conclusion in Puerto Iguazú.

Lula has led criticism of the European bloc of 27 countries for formulating a series of additional environmental demands related to the agricultural sector, mainly for compliance with various commitments of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

“It is not possible to have a strategic association and have an additional letter threatening a strategic partner,” said the Brazilian president during a forum in Paris devoted to financing the fight against climate change. In the audience were among others the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the head of the German government, Olaf Scholz.

open fronts

After more than 20 years of tough negotiations, the EU and Mercosur reached a free trade agreement in 2019, which remained paralyzed due to resistance from the agricultural sectors of some European countries.

Lula’s onslaught against the new European demands seems to dampen the EU’s optimism for a conclusion to the pact this year, expressed by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenon his tour this month of Latin America, which included Buenos Aires and Brasilia.

The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, acknowledged this week that the new document “it has not been well received” by the South American countries and affirmed that Europe still awaits ato “specific answer” to your requests.

On his side, Lula opened another front, assuring that Brazill “will not yield” in protecting their local industry in the chapter on government purchases.

However, his government persists in maintaining the negotiations. The largest Latin American economy wants to reach a “good balanced and suitable result for both parties”said Carvalho.

For Bruno Binetti, international affairs expert at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, “the most” that can leave the summit is “a concrete agenda before the EU”, with “demands”.

“But I don’t think we’re at that stage.” he told AFP.

Annoyance from Uruguay

Mercosur, founded in 1991, reaches the summit in the midst of a new chapter of tensions caused by asymmetries between partners.

Uruguaythe smallest economy next to Paraguayanexhibits increasing discomfort within the bloc.

The government of the center-right Luis Lacalle Pou seeks to move towards an FTA with China and requested adhesion to the Trans-Pacific Agreement without the consent of the other partners.

Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo stated this month that it is necessary “change status” of Uruguay in Mercosur, arguing that “There is no interest from Brazil, Argentina, or Paraguay in finishing deepening and advancing in the integration scheme.”

After Puerto Iguazú, the South Americans will have another date with the Europeans. The EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) hold a summit from July 17 to 18 in Brussels, the first in eight years.

Source: AFP