President Luis Lacalle Pou will participate this week in a new summit of heads of state of the mercosurin the Argentine city of Puerto Iguazú, a meeting that will seal the harmony between the Argentina and Brazil in terms of regional policies.
The president, who in the last two meetings of the bloc’s presidents had strong crosses with his Argentine counterpart Alberto Fernandez, arrives at the forum worn out by what have been the few advances in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Chinathe main reason for the tension with Buenos Aires.
The climate of frustration in the government is no longer hidden: the delays have turned into a lethargy since Lula da Silva he assumed the presidency in Brazil on January 1. Beijing and Brasilia understand that the best way to move forward is under a pact between the world power and the bloc.
The summit on Monday and Tuesday will mark the return of the Brazilian to that forum in which, together with Fernández, he will insist on the agenda of the reduction of internal asymmetries and will propose to work on the agreement with the European Union (EU).
A summit marked by obstacles in the agreement with the European Union
Mercosur could use the occasion to respond to the old reluctance of countries like France and Ireland and the new environmental requirements imposed by Brussels.
During the visit that weeks ago to Buenos Aires the president of the European Comission (executive body of the EU), Ursula von der LeyenPresident Alberto Fernández spoke of the work carried out together with the other Mercosur countries to respond to the European proposal and stated that they would be presented in a few days.
“The documents are finished. It is necessary to review the approval mechanism to send to the EU. On Monday we will know if it is closed,” a diplomatic source with knowledge of the negotiations told the Argentine news agency Télam.
The last time he spoke about it, Fernández said that all the actors involved have the “will to reach an agreement”, but acknowledged that “the obstacles are there.”
Brazil, the actor that can unblock the tensions?
Lula da Silva, for his part, was consulted on the issue and criticized the fact that the European Union’s additional environmental letter “makes a threat to a strategic partner” such as Mercosur. He later called on Brussels to put “a bit of arrogance aside” and “use common sense to negotiate”.
In public and in private -and especially in the face of Uruguay’s criticism of the delays in the agreements- Argentine and Brazilian diplomats recall that, beyond the European Union, Mercosur is advancing in agreements with other blocs, such as the EFTA (the European Free Trade Association made up of Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland) or with countries such as Singapore, Canada, Indonesiaand Vietnam.
The South American Secretary of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, Gisela Figueiredo Padovanpointed out on Thursday that Lula da Silva intends an “ambitious agenda for negotiating agreements” but that it is also necessary to “achieve a mechanism to correct the asymmetries” within the bloc.
Another point that is not part of the formal agenda, but will fly over the meeting is the incorporation as a full partner of Bolivia and the reincorporation of Venezuela.
Meanwhile, Bolivia’s accession to Mercosur is a long-standing process that is virtually stuck in the Brazilian Senatewhile the discussion of the reincorporation of Caracas “is not scheduled” for the Iguazú summit but “should be debated” in the future, according to Figueiredo Padovan said at a press conference.
Source: Ambito
