MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU-Mercosur trade talks

Portugal and Spain called yesterday for more political input in the EU's trade negotiations with the Mercosur bloc, after five-year talks broke down.

The negotiations between the EU and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay started in 1999.

Talks collapsed in October, with both sides accusing each other of failing to open key and sensitive market sectors.

Portugal's Foreign Minister Diogo Freitas do Amaral has blamed the collapse of talks on bureaucratic procedures at the European Headquarters in Brussels.

On yesterday, he and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Morantinos sent a letter to the Mercosur nations, saying ??we give great importance to the conclusion of an agreement between the EU and Mercosur.''

Given the impasse, however, ??we cannot look at this agreement only from an economic perspective. We need to underline its political dimension,'' the letter said.

The letter also said the issue should be discussed further at a meeting in September in New York during the United Nations summit.