President Luis Lacalle Pou highlighted the progress achieved around the Mercosur agreement with the European Union, and those directly for Uruguay.
President Luis Lacalle Pou considered that the summit of leaders of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) and the European Union (EU) was positive and that he ended his participation with “moderate optimism”, a better attitude than the one he had at the beginning of the meetings, both for what was obtained for Uruguay as for the regional bloc.
At the close of a summit marked by the desire to close the Mercosur-EU agreement After 25 years of negotiation and due to the different bilateral meetings in the busy agenda of the Uruguayan government, President Lacalle Pou took stock of his brief time in Brussels. In dialogue with El País, the president acknowledged that he was returning to the country with a “moderately optimistic” stance after the achievements made in the Belgian capital, with several factors on the table that make him think that, finally, it will be possible to reach a successful conclusion in the negotiations with Europe.
This, for Uruguay, is doubly positive: on the one hand, due to the direct implications that the agreement may have for the country’s economy; and, on the other, because of the door that it can open in relation to the negotiations with China and the hypothetical Free Trade Agreement (FTA) If it is not bilateral, it could be regional with Mercosur. Regarding the last point, for the Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvathe concretion of the agreement with the EU is a priority and must take place before beginning to discuss the advances with the Asian giant.
Satisfactory bilateral meetings
The bilateral meetings were protagonists of the presidential agenda, with the French president Emmanuel Macron as one of the most important appointments due to what his position means to reach the agreement with the EU, as he is the main opponent in this regard. In this sense, Lacalle Pou maintained that “Macron mentioned real interest in advancing the agreement”something that was very well received by Latin American countries.
Among other meetings held by the Head of State, the ones he held with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; the president of the European Council, Charles Michel; and the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.
“All the meetings were very direct and very candid and got to the point on basically two counts. One was the real possibility of advancing this year in the agreement. The other issue was the obstacles that exist in the official discourse of both parties, which relate above all to the European agricultural and environmental issue”, explained Lacalle Pou.
The president believes that there is a renewed interest of the European bloc in Latin America. “In a world of so many changes, after the shock of the pandemic, added to the war conflict over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, climate change… all this makes them look at a continent that is highly benefited in raw materials and energy. I believe that we are in a very good moment for Latin America, without prejudice to our quite heterogeneous conditions, ”she considered.
Another factor that may be influencing the renewed European impulse towards a rapprochement with Latin America may be the strong interest in the agreement that Spain, currently in charge of the rotating presidency of the EU, Lacalle Pou assessed.
Tariff preferences and European cooperation projects, product naming issues and what will happen to future environmental policy in the amazon These are the points that will be discussed in the coming months to try to close the agreement before the end of the year.
Source: Ambito
