MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU Parliament votes to speed trade treaty with Mercosur

The European Parliament is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a report calling on the EU to reach “as soon as possible” a free trade agreement with Mercosur which remains delayed by the World Trade Organization Doha round negotiations.

The report from the Spanish Conservative Deputy member of the European Parliament, Daniel Varela, points out that the non conclusion of a free trade treaty with Mercosur represents an annual loss in goods and services trade for the EU estimated in almost 11 billion US dollars.

The report also proposes the creation of a "Bi-regional Solidarity Fund", a "Mercosur Parliament" and doing trade and investments between the two blocks in Euros.

The two blocks are expected to resume bilateral negotiations next week in Rio do Janeiro, and according to the text distributed among members of the European Parliament, reaching an agreement with Mercosur "is a priority strategic objective for the EU foreign relations".

The report underlines that Mercosur has "a great growth potential and represents a significant trade opening for the EU since it holds 45% of Latinamerica population and 45% of the region's GDP".

The report regrets the "delay in the negotiations" and the fact that discussions have been "subordinated to the evolution and culmination of the Doha round", but it also strongly supports the EU proposal in agriculture, which Mercosur considers "insufficient".

However the report from MEP Varela points out that Doha negotiations and the Mercosur bilateral talks "are not excluding but rather complement each other". And the agriculture proposal to Mercosur "is the most ambitious ever presented in a bilateral negotiation", plus the fact that the EU is Mercosur main farm exports market.

Finally the report which is to be considered by the European Parliament highlights that cooperation and "economic instruments" must be used to ensure the "preservation of Mercosur countries environment, with special attention to the Amazon forest jungle".

Hydrocarbons and close links in energy affairs has also been added to Wednesday's agenda, particularly since Venezuela officially joined the Mercosur block.