MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mercosur summit in Paraguay to be postponed

Full agendas in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay push aside Mercosur

Brazil has suggested delaying the coming Mercosur presidential summit scheduled for July 3 and 4 in Asunción, Paraguay when Uruguay should be taking the chair for the next six months.

A final decision is expected this week according to the Paraguayan Foreign Affairs minister, Hector Lacognata, who is responsible for organizing the event.

According to Brazilian diplomats who made the suggestion, President Lula da Silva has a full agenda those two days, and the initiative counts with the verbal support from Uruguay and Argentina that on June 28th face relevant electoral events.

Next Sunday Argentina is holding mid term elections with a debilitated President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner desperately campaigning to maintain congressional majority. In Uruguay political parties are holding primaries to decide on their presidential candidates for the October election.

Lacognata said that what happens this week depends on a formal request from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay to postpone the Mercosur summit, which would then be held at the end of July.

“Let’s be clear about something in the event of a postponement: this is not because of Paraguay, we are in conditions to organize the summit on July 3 and 4”, he emphasized.