MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mercosur-EU: “final effort” October 20

Mercosur Foreign Affairs ministers agreed last week in Rio do Janeiro to a “last political effort” next October 20 when they meet with European Trade Commissar Pascal Lamy to discuss about the signing of a elusive trade agreement with the EU which so far has proved elusive and controversial.

Rafael Bielsa from Argentina, Celso Amorim from Brazil, Leila Rachid, Paraguay and Didier Opertti from Uruguay said in Rio that the meeting to be held in Lisbon will try to keep to the self-imposed Mercosur-EU timetable for the signing of the agreement before October 31, when EU top Commissars will be replaced including Mr. Lamy. However the four ministers insisted that the latest EU trade proposal has been considered by Mercosur as "insufficient" and "unacceptable".

Apparently the Lisbon October 20 meeting was an EU initiative from Portuguese Primer Minister Pedro Santana Lopes, "and nobody invites for a meeting that will be non productive. Inviting means you're prepared to advance", remarked Argentine minister Bielsa. But all ministers avoided talking about the more conflicting points in the dispute with the EU: Mercosur request for an additional quota of 315,000 tons of beef and Brussels demand that certain beverage and food origin denominations be respected.

Trade advisors and technical support teams of the Mercosur negotiators are working double time to sharpen the coming Lisbon meeting strategy, and this "could include the possibility of accepting some of the EU requests". Brazilian minister Amorim talked of a greater "flexibility margin" denying the existence of "hidden proposals". "We offered all we had to offer, but we'll think in some additional flexibility, if possible and always in the framework of minimal negotiations", cautioned Mr. Amorim. "Our interest is so manifest that we will be represented by the four Foreign Affairs ministers. We'll be going to Lisbon with optimism because they are strategic negotiations, nevertheless with prudence, because we must be prepared to a hypothetical situation where nothing is agreed".

Even if the trade agreement is not signed before October 31, "we'll keep it up and hope to reach an agreement later on", revealed Mr. Opertti.

EU and Mercosur have been discussing since 2000 an agreement with three main points. Those referred to political consultations and governance, and funds for development, have been agreed, with trade remaining the stumbling block. An option would be to keep to the October 31 timetable by signing the two agreed chapters.