MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Royal “impeller” for the pulp mills dispute

King of Spain Juan Carlos will act as a “facilitator” or “impeller”, according to the version, in an attempt to bring together the positions of Uruguay and Argentina divided over the construction of paper mills and pickets blocking bridges between the neighboring countries.

Argentine president Nestor Kirchner formally requested the King to intercede according to the royal spokesperson while Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez told his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero he was willing to send envoys to Spain to try and reach an agreement.

However President Vazquez insisted that no face to face leaders meeting will take place until the blocking of bridges by Argentine pickets comes to a definitive end.

The understanding was reached in the framework of the informal talks and meetings of the XVIth Iberoamerican Summit which took place in Montevideo over the weekend.

On Saturday morning during a meeting with host president Vazquez, Rodriguez Zapatero revealed that at that precise moment they were "sounding out" the possibility of having the King act as an "impeller" of dialogue between Uruguay and Argentina. Two hours later a meeting of the Argentine president and King Juan Carlos was scheduled.

Spanish minister for Iberoamerica Trinidad Gimenez said it was President Kirchner who had requested the King to help facilitate the dialogue between the two countries and presidents, which was obviously accepted by the Spanish monarch.

However President Rodriguez Zapatero underlined that the correct word to describe the role of the King is "impeller", not necessarily "facilitator" and certainly not "mediator". The King wants to make sure "an effective, satisfactory agreement for both sides is reached".

Uruguayan president proposed a three steps approach: a meeting of Uruguayan and Argentine delegates in Spain; followed by a meeting at Foreign Affairs ministers level and only then with a definitive consensus on the bilateral dispute, which has seen the case considered in the International Court of The Hague and in Mercosur's tribunal, a presidential meeting.

"But, pickets and blocking of bridges must cease", insisted the Uruguayan side.

Although the "formal" initiative came from President Kirchner, reliable diplomatic sources said the whole idea was worked out last Friday between the Foreign Affairs ministers from Argentina, Uruguay and Spain. Apparently Spain's Miguel Angel Moratinos made the proposal to Jorge Taiana and Uruguay's Reinaldo Gargano who accepted the suggestion. The Argentine side had then to convince President Kirchner who at all times has ruled out any third party's action arguing it was a "bilateral" issue. Uruguay has always fought to make it a multilateral issue.

Apparently the fact it involves a very much respected figure in Latinamerica, the King of Spain; it's not formally a "mediation" and the two pulp mill companies questioned by environmentalists are European, one Finnish and one Spanish, finally convinced Kirchner.

Meantime it was announced that the "walls" built by pickets in the accesses of two international bridges leading to Uruguay had been "knocked down".

The symbolic walls had been built in coincidence with the Iberoamerican summit to capture the attention of the international press in Montevideo.

Picketers who are protesting the alleged contaminating consequences of the pulp mills under construction or planned on the Uruguayan side had promised to cut bridges since last Friday until late Sunday when all foreign leaders had left Montevideo.