MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian businessmen criticize the Mercosur “anchor”.

A group of Brazilian businessmen will request the Lula de Silva administration to step back from Mercosur, interrupting the customs union process, reported this Friday Roberto Gianetti da Fonseca, International Relations Director from the all powerful Sao Paulo Federation of Industries, FIESP.

The businessmen believe Mercosur has become an "anchor" for Brazil's international negotiations limiting bilateral agreements, since these must be agreed with all country members, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, argued Mr. da Fonseca in an interview with the financial magazine "Valor".

"The solution is to review the Mercosur treaty. We need to adopt some brave attitudes", added FIESP's official.

"It's not a matter of abandoning Mercosur and ignoring Latinamerica as a priority (one of the main targets of the Lula da Silva administration), but rather liberate Brazil so it can negotiate without bonds" international trade agreements particularly with United States and the European Union.

In 1994 Mercosur decided that the customs union means not only a common external tariff but the joint negotiation of international agreements.