MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Visiting European MPs upbeat over talks with Mercosur

A delegation of European Union Members of Parliament met Wednesday in Buenos Aires with the Mercosur Commission of Permanent Representatives in anticipation of the EU/Latinamerica and Caribbean leaders' summit scheduled for next month in Lima, Peru.

Carlos Chacho Alvarez, who presides over the Mercosur Commission of Permanent Representatives said that dialogue and cooperation between both blocks has advanced "considerably" in recent years and "should help us arrive, soon, to formalize the strategic EU/Mercosur strategic understanding". "We have long standing cultural and historic" indicated Alvarez who said Mercosur was hopeful that "some flexibilization" from the EU should advance negotiations for an agreement that benefits both sides. "All these efforts, all these years seek to build a strategic association which finds joint answers in the economic field as well as in social and political affairs", added Alvarez. The ten MEP delegation whose members belong to the Foreign Affairs Sub Committee on relations with Mercosur said that the main objective of their visit was to collect data and establish political contacts to assess the coming round of negotiations which "must be definitive". "The strategic association with Mercosur is one of top priority for the EU, since we have similar positions in most world affairs", said a member of the delegation