MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Quantum” yield keep Mercosur/EU trade talks stalled

Mercosur and European Union trade negotiations remain stalled following on Saturday's meeting in Lima according to reports from the Argentine press. Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and the head of the European Commission Jose Manuel Borroso could only agree that it was a discussion with “passion” and if “no country yields, there's no agreement”.

Apparently Mr. Barroso claimed greater market opening from Mercosur in manufactured goods and services, if there was to be an agreement on agriculture. Mrs. Kirchner talking for Mercosur, since Argentina currently holds the six months chair, said there was willingness to reduce tariffs on manufactured goods imports, but not as much as the EU is requesting because this "would mean more poverty". "It's not a yes or no option; what matters is the quantum" said the Argentine president adding that the EU must recognize the asymmetries, different degrees of development, "if not the last 24 hours we spent speaking about poverty and lack of equality would have been useless, a futile exercise, because we are discussing conditions that only lead to more poverty and victims". The meeting was held behind doors the day after the end of the EU/Latam and Caribbean leaders' summit in Peru and the agenda included the Doha round for the liberalization of world trade and the stalled negotiations between the EU and Mercosur for a political and trade accord, which is partly conditioned to the first. "Mercosur countries have much to win in agriculture, but they won't win if they don't make concessions in manufacturing and services…that must be clear", stated Barroso. He insisted the EU was making a great effort to reach an accord but it must be balanced, "without concessions in manufacturing, an EU approval for lesser tariffs and greater market shares be it in Doha or in the bilateral relation, won't be possible. That's how things are, and we must see them as they are, if we want effective results". Mrs. Kirchner pointed out that Mercosur and efficient farming countries are willing to yield in manufacturing tariffs "but we can't deliver the same as the Europeans because of the different degree of development". She emphasized it was important to see what each side was yielding, because "we must see what that actually represents for each of us, given the size of the economies and social conditions". The Argentine president then made reference to the Spanish conquest saying that poverty in Latinamerica didn't come like the wind or rain, "it came partly because of the misappropriation of resources since its discovery, no matter how much the local leaderships could be responsible for". Finally she insisted that Mercosur wants a "balanced negotiation. We're not talking ideology, but numbers: the majority of poor people are not in the EU but in Latinamerica. In Doha or Mercosur we will yield what is necessary but conditioned to the impact it will have". Barroso later told the press that "he had requested greater flexibility from some countries, because if not, we won't have a global agreement". Mrs. Kirchner admitted it had been a "strong and realistic" discussion with much passion.