MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian industry suggests direct negotiations with EU, leaving aside Mercosur

It boils down to a geometric variable according to FIESP

Brazil’s all powerful Sao Paulo Federation of Industries, FIESP, said it is willing to yield positions so a free trade agreement can be reached with the European Union but also suggested Brazil should leave Mercosur aside.

Mario Marconini, member of FIESP’s board said the federation supports a “differentiated” negotiation which should open the way for Brazil to reach a trade agreement with the European Union, forgetting about the South American trade block made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

“Brazil is willing to consider better offerings from the EU, individually; it is willing to do more than other countries of Mercosur while other Mercosur countries want to advance less: basically we are talking of a variable geometry” added Marconini.

The Brazilian businessman said that FIESP wants to negotiate “at a different pace” than other Mercosur members.

Marconini in representation of FIESP, Brazil’s strongest industrial lobby, is currently participating in the EU/Mercosur round of talks in Lisbon, Portugal.

Negotiations between both trade blocks are virtually stalled since 2004, and are expected to receive a boost the next semester when Spain will be holding the rotating EU presidency.

According to Brazil’s financial daily Valor Economico, corporate sources said that there’s a strong movement to “reinvent” Mercosur and turn it from a customs union to a free trade area.