MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mercosur “surprised” by EU uncompromising stance

Mercosur and European Union talks seem to have stalled again following an unsuccessful meeting in Brussels during March, according to the South American block diplomatic sources.

Mercosur was "surprised" by the uncompromising stance adopted by the EU delegation during the latest meeting, added the sources.

However the EU delegates had a similar view about the meeting, "there was a little bit of reluctance on their side, particularly from Brazil and Argentina, to fix a new starting line for the talks", which remain frozen since last October when an agreed self imposed deadline was not reached.

Mercosur and EU came close to an agreement in May last year, but talks collapsed a few months later with both sides accusing the other of downgrading their initial proposals and pledges.

The talks were also put on hold because of the naming of a new EU trade negotiating team when Peter Mandelson replaced Pascal Lamy who had been the driving force in the negotiations and hoped to conclude his mandate with a successful agreement.

In early March EU Trade Commissioner Mandelson told members of the European Parliament that he was intent in resuming talks with Mercosur

Regis Arslanian, the chief Brazilian negotiator said his country was willing to improve its proposal in such areas as access to financial services and the automotive sector, "but not without a comparable gesture from the EU".

"To move forward we will have to present better offers and this is a commitment of ours. But I have received no sign from the EU side that they would be prepared to improve offers", added Mr. Arslanian who emphasized "we're not prepared to sign an agreement for the sake of signing. We want this agreement which is politically very important for Mercosur, but we also have to have commercial benefits".

Both sides agree that an agreement could considerably boost trade between both blocks which now stands at over 45 billion US dollars annually.

Negotiations for the cooperation, political and trade pact began six years ago but have dragged amid Mercosur concerns about opening government procurement contracts and the services sector.

EU on the other hand has been unwilling to concede unrestricted access to beef, cereals, poultry and other agricultural products which are highly subsidized in Europe.

Analysts estimate that if Mercosur and EU don't resume talks in the next three months trade negotiations will be focusing on the World Trade Organization Doha round which has a decisive meeting scheduled for next December.