MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pulp mills conflict: Uruguay appeals directly to Mercosur

Uruguay considers negotiations with Argentina regarding the pulp mills dispute “are over” and formally requested an “urgent and extraordinary” meeting of Mercosur's Council to address the conflict, most probably next April 18 or 20.

"As of this moment the chapter on direct negotiations with Argentina regarding the blocking of international bridges and the pulp mills, is over", announced Friday midday Uruguay's Foreign Affairs Minister Reinlado Gargano.

The precise instructions from President Tabare Vazquez are that "the Foreign Affairs Ministry retakes actions to defend the rights of the Uruguayan republic", he added.

Two decisions have already been adopted, "first we are going to request the immediate convening, April 18 or 20 of the Mercosur Council which is the block's main authority. We will ask the Council to rule on Article 1 of the Mercosur founding Asuncion Treaty, which we are convinced has been repeatedly violated".

Secondly, "a letter will be sent to the International Court of The Hague describing the situation; indicating there has been a systematic violation of International Law and detailing all efforts undertaken by the Uruguayan government to overcome the conflict".

Mr. Gargano said both courses of action are "in process" but also cautioned that "political relations with Argentina, with the exception of this specific case, are absolutely normal". "The Uruguayan Executive has concluded that negotiations at presidential level have not worked out", and is spite of further contacts, "considers the situation to be over".

During the last few weeks both presidents closest aides, Uruguay's presidential secretary Gonzalo Fernandez and Argentina's cabinet secretary Alberto Fernandez tried to work out a solution to the dispute originated by Argentina's opposition to the building of two pulp mills on the Uruguayan side of a shared river.

Finland's Botnia and Spain's Ence are investing an estimated 1.8 billion US dollars in the pulp mills, Uruguay's largest single investment in decades and closely linked to the development of the country's forest and logging industries.

The on going dispute about the environmental impact of the mills on the shared and jointly managed border river Uruguay worsened last December when Argentine residents on the opposite side of where the mills are being built mounted pickets temporarily blocking the access to two international bridges. Last February the interruption of traffic to Uruguay became permanent.

High level contacts managed to work on a common ground: pickets would be lifted and construction in the mills suspended for a maximum 90 days during which both countries would jointly address the environmental challenges.

However the Finnish company Botnia flatly refused to accept a 90 days suspension, at the most 10 days, thus frustrating a presidential summit between Vazquez and Kirchner.

Pickets have since returned and Argentina is blaming Botnia's "intransigency" for the failure of the summit.

However Botnia insists that the company has broken no rules, strictly complies with contracts and the pulp mill will be have European Union state of the art pollution control standards.

Analysts consider that the pulp industry is not willing to accept a standing environmental assessment committee which besides scientists and officials includes environmentalists (such as Greenpeace) and local residents, as demanded by Argentina.