President Luis Lacalle Pou headed the first Minister council 2024, in which he received the different leaders of the portfolios with the aim of discussing fundamental issues for their management such as the suspension of the agreement between the Mercosur and the European Union and the deepening of bilateral relations with USA.
This is the last year of management of President Lacalle Pou and there are still important issues in diary to deal with the agent. With this, and with a context of presidential elections getting closer every day, the president spoke with his ministers, in the first meeting of the Minister council in Executive Tower.
In that sense, the president moved forward with the balance and the Accountability that he will have to give this March 2 before the General Assembly in Parliament.
The election year is coming
The elections not only mean a change of government but also the Executive power must determine new names for the ministerial positions that must be replaced due to the politicians’ decision to face the elections as pre-candidates.
In that sense, the ministers who will leave their position are the minister of Defending and representative of National Party (PN), Javier García, the minister of Social development and also representative of the PN, Martin Lema and the minister of Tourism, Tabare Vierawho will go as a presidential candidate for the Colorado Party.
Sources indicated to the press that some names are almost closed for some positions. Among them, the names for the Social Development and Defense portfolios would be defined although there are still some instances of dialogue to achieve a definition.
Mercosur and the European Union, a headache
He Mercosur-EU agreement seems to be diluted after the demands of France to incorporate food sovereignty into its regulations and failure in the extensive negotiations threatens to generate a negative impact at the international and regional level, which will also affect Uruguay.
If it is confirmed that the agreement with the European Union is truncated, not only will the Mercosur, but also “the pressure for flexibility will increase”, a line proposed by the president Luis Lacalle Pou, and there is even the possibility of “discussing belonging,” as he expressed in dialogue with Scope Ignacio Bartesaghi, director of the UCU International Business Institute.
In that sense, the implications at the local level would mean that the government “will be left empty-handed” if the agreement is not closed. “It will increase pressure on the Uruguayan government to advance in the flexibility or the bilateralization of Mercosur,” anticipated the expert who even indicated that the pressure from the businessmen, that need market openings” and did not rule out a remoteness of the block.
Advances with the United States
This week the Commander of the United States Southern Command, Laura Richardsonvisited Uruguay in a gesture of attempted security cooperation between both countries. “For more than seven decades, we have been proud to call Uruguay a valued and respected partner in security”, highlighted the general Richardson, while he highlighted that the alliance between teams from both countries “is another example of the power of association.”
With several donations of security equipment and differential prices for this type of weapons, the Uruguay is seeking to deepen bilateral relations with the northern country, although the possibility of reestablishing the country in the country is still ruled out. DEA.
On the other hand, we also continue to insist on the possibility that Uruguayans no longer need a visa to travel to the United States. The latest news was the visit of a delegation from Department of Stateheaded by the secretary for the Southern Region of the Secretariat of Hemispheric Affairs, Kevin Sullivanto the Secretary of the Presidency, Rodrigo Ferrés.
At the meeting last Tuesday in the Executive Tower, in which he was also present Heide B. Fultonthe American ambassador to Uruguaythe issue of visa exemption for Uruguayans was discussed again, as well as a possible reinstallation of an office of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEAfor its acronym in English).
At the beginning of the year, Uruguay had taken a new step towards the visa waiver program USA after he Minister of the Interior, Nicolás Martinelliwill sign next to the Ambassador Fulton a collaboration agreement on border security.
As he himself later said Martinellithis cooperation and information exchange agreement is “one more step towards the visa exemption program” and reflects that “Uruguay is very close to being one of the few countries in the world that will not need a visa to enter USA“.
Source: Ambito
