MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New chapter for Mercosur-EU negotiations

The European Union and Mercosur will attempt to resume negotiations for a political association and free trade agreement, which have been stalled since October 2004, in next Friday's ministerial meeting to be held in Brussels.

Uruguayan Ambassador before the EU Elbio Rosselli said that Foreign Affairs ministers from Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, Leila Rachid, Celso Amorim and Reinaldo Gargano, plus Argentina's Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna will be present at the meeting.

"The main purpose of the ministerial meeting is to assess the state of negotiations and decide on some practical procedures", said Ambassador Rosselli who confirmed that the EU delegation will include EU Trade Commissar Peter Mandelson; Agriculture Commissar Mariann Fischer Boel and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Foreign Affairs.

The ministerial summit will be preceded by a technical meeting and presumably will end with a joint conclusions document, according to EU Brussels sources.

EU and Mercosur have been discussing since 1999 the terms of an association agreement which includes political dialogue, cooperation and free trade.

However Mercosur is insistent in greater access for agriculture commodities to the EU market, and EU is demanding better conditions for European services corporations, which has seen talks stalled since October 2004.

But since EU-Mercosur talks are closely linked to the World Trade Organization multilateral negotiations, analysts believe bilateral discussions will not really take off until after the WTO ministerial conference scheduled for next December in Hong Kong.