Negotiations for an ample trade and cooperation agreement between the European Union and Mercosur are strategic, essential and must be urgently concluded, said Ramon Jauregui, head of the Euro-chamber for Latin America delegation, following on the recent accords signed by the EU with Ecuador and Cuba.
Argentina's priority as chair of Mercosur which it will officially take over this week will be to advance negotiations with the European Union for a wide ranging trade agreement which will not include Venezuela, anticipated foreign minister Susana Malcorra .
The free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union could be concluded in 2018 depending on the election results next year in France and Germane anticipated a Brazilian official during a forum on foreign trade held in Sao Paulo. France is holding presidential elections next May 2017 and Germany some time later.
The President of Mercosur’s parliament (Parlasur) thinks that the European Union’s current tabled offer is “unsatisfactory” and made it clear that it shouldn’t be signed in its current form. Jorge Taiana, head of the parliament, and former foreign minister with ex president Cristina Fernandez, complained that the negotiations, which resumed about seven years ago, are taking far too long, but added that in the absence of a “balanced agreement”, nothing should be signed.
A European Union parliament delegation of fourteen lawmakers is in Buenos Aires to prop Mercosur/EU trade talks, and even admitting there has been advances, and prospects are encouraging, they also acknowledged that many objections from both sides persist.
Tensions inside Mercosur can be attributed to the fact that Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay share a development economic model which distances them from Venezuela, and are prepared to advance in trade negotiations with the European Union, and even with the Pacific Alliance. Venezuela on the other hand has as its main priority putting the deteriorated economy back on the growth track, according to the UN regional economic commission ECLAC, chair Alicia Barcena.
The European Union and Mercosur could strike a free trade deal within two years, according to Argentina’s Commerce Secretary Miguel Braun. After Brexit, Mercosur would be open to a separate trade deal with the UK. Trade negotiations between the EU and Mercosur nations are still on track, despite the UK’s decision to leave the bloc and uncertainty over the future of the EU’s other major trade agreements – TTIP and CETA.
The current critical situation of Mercosur is an opportunity to strengthen and advance trade negotiations, which could include the long delayed accord with the European Union by the end of 2017, according to Argentina's Secretary of Commerce, Miguel Braun.
If beef is not included, there won't be any agreement, said Uruguay's foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa in anticipation of next week's meeting of European Union and Mercosur coordinators to adjust the list of goods and services the two blocks will formally exchange in mid October, the first formal meeting of its kind in fourteen years.
Negotiations for a trade and cooperation agreement between Mercosur and the European Union must continue and should not be overshadowed by political issues such as the impeachment process in Brazil, pointed out Paraguay's foreign minister Eladio Loizaga, following a motion by 15 Green Euro and United Left parliamentarians in Strasbourg to cancel discussions because of the corruption contaminated removal of Dilma Rousseff.