MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay takes over the Mercosur presidency this month, with EU quotas a top priority

“Before the end of September that issue has to be closed,” Lubetkin said

Uruguay will assume the pro tempore presidency of Mercosur on June 30, during a summit of the bloc in Paraguay, with the distribution of the quotas from the agreement with the European Union (EU) among the main items on its agenda. Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin said the country is already preparing to take on that role and that “the technical teams are already working.”

The distribution of the quotas is one of the most sensitive pending issues. The commercial chapter of the agreement between Mercosur and the EU entered provisional application on May 1, after more than 25 years of negotiations, but the internal distribution of the quotas Brussels granted to the bloc's partners —especially for beef— was not settled in time. “Before the end of September that issue has to be closed,” Lubetkin said, adding that the talks are advancing “in a better climate than at the start” and that there is “a clearer perception on the part of the four countries” of the need to reach agreements.

The negotiation faces differing criteria among the partners. Uruguay and Argentina favor distributing the quotas according to an average of what each country exports to the EU; Paraguay proposes dividing them into four equal parts, and Brazil, according to each partner's share of world trade. The Uruguayan government has also held that the distribution must be set out in a binding legal instrument, approved by the bloc's organs, rather than in an informal pre-agreement among private operators.

Lubetkin also referred to the agenda of international visits planned for the second half of the year. Chile's President José Antonio Kast will visit Uruguay on July 1, and the president of Slovakia is expected in December. “I think there will be a flow toward Montevideo, which is what we want,” the foreign minister said.

The pro tempore presidency, which rotates every six months among the full members, gives Uruguay the power to set the bloc's agenda during that period. Yamandú Orsi's government has said it will use the role not only to unblock the discussion over the quotas, but also to promote the “deepening and implementation” of the agreement with the EU, which opens access to a market of more than 750 million people and to about 20% of the world's gross domestic product. Uruguay will take over from Paraguay at the head of the bloc.