MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuelan situation impedes Mercosur summit to take place in Caracas, says Almargo

Almagro stated that Venezuela has other priorities such as the peace dialogue and the social situation

Uruguay Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro said that the political situation in Venezuela makes it quite improbable that the three-times postponed and since delayed Mercosur summit can effectively take place in Caracas sometime in the next two months.

 “The summit has been postponed several times and at this moment we are in an impasse, mainly because of the situation in Venezuela; we were hopeful that the peace dialogue in Venezuela would establish the necessary conditions which would allow the summit to take place as soon as possible”, said Almagro.

Venezuela currently holds the rotating chair of Mercosur and this would be the first summit hosted by Venezuela, that only in 2012 became a full member of the trade group, It will signal also the formal full return of Paraguay which was suspended by the other members following the removal of then president Fernando Lugo, in what was considered a controversial decision.

“For the summit to take place certain conditions must be given” insisted Almagro. He recalled that the Venezuelan government has “other immediate priorities such as establishing the dialogue with the opposition and addressing the social problems we are all aware of”.

Following the suspension for a full year of Paraguay and its return last year with the election of president Horacio Cartes, Mercosur has been stalled and disarray not only because of the Venezuelan situation but mainly because of trade disputes, particularly with Argentina and its policy to promote industry, create jobs and save dollars.

Mercosur has several pending issues among which the most significant discussions for a trade and cooperation agreement with the European Union, with negotiations resumed in 2010 after several years suspension.

Over the weekend the Paraguayan foreign ministry had reported that the presidential summit would take place in Caracas despite the serious political and economic crisis which Venezuela is undergoing: the only factor on which the event will depend this time is the agenda of the different presidents, according to Paraguayan diplomats.

“That was the decision adopted in Caracas last week during the meeting of Mercosur Common Market Group, GMC” said Federico Gonzalez Franco, deputy foreign affairs minister and who last week attended the meeting in representation of Paraguay.

“The GMC meeting was in anticipation of the Common Market Council to be held in Caracas and following which takes place the presidential summit, and heads of state will decide depending on their individual agendas” said Gonzalez Franco, who added this was not conditioned by the situation in Venezuela. “We're going to resume the official calendar”.

The 'presidential agendas' impediment in reality is a delicate diplomatic way of referring to the deep differences between the majority of the group with Argentina, relative to the common proposal to be elaborated and exchanged with the European Union to achieve an ambitious trade and cooperation agreement that has been delayed wince 1999.

Argentina has been reluctant to lower tariffs that could impact jobs and its industrialization process, while Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay strongly favor an understanding to lower tariffs and promote trade. This is particularly true for Brazil and Uruguay, which have been catalogued by the World Bank as 'middle-class countries' meaning they lost since last January a battery of EU tariff benefits.