Paraguay's President Mario Abdo Benítez Friday welcomed Spain's Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya at the presidential residence of Mburuvicha Roga in Asunción. The presence of Spain's top diplomat is linked, among other issues, to Mercosur's trade deal with the European Union.
Mercosur countries will address environmental concerns raised by the European Union that have stalled ratification of a free trade deal between the two trade blocs, Argentina’s foreign minister said on Monday.
Until Brazil makes a political commitment to curb deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, the trade deal between the European Union and South America’s Mercosur trade bloc will not advance toward ratification in Europe, the EU’s envoy in Brasilia said.
The Argentine president Alberto Fernández made a surprise visit to Uruguay on Thursday to meet his peer Luis Lacalle Pou, with whom they shared a barbecue and according to both leaders addressed bilateral and regional affairs with special emphasis on trade prospects such as the Mercosur/EU trade agreement.
Argentina held a meeting with the European Union ambassador and 21 of 27 EU members' representatives in Buenos Aires and formally called for an end of the support for UK Falklands' sovereignty recognition in the ongoing Brexit negotiations between Brussels and London.
French president, Emmanuel Macron, declared his opposition to the free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur. In addition, 265 civil society organizations were also mobilized against the agreement. The decision follows the defeat of Macron in the municipal elections and the strong advance of the Greens.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday that Mercosur trade block needs to hurry up and implement agreements the group has negotiated.
Austria's Parliament Wednesday voted to veto the treaty between Mercosur and the European Union, a decision which will stop the enactment of the agreement reached after over 20 years f negotiations.
The European Union Council president Donald Tusk said it was hard to imagine the bloc ratifying its trade pact with Mercosur as long as Brazil fails to curb the fires ravaging the Amazon rainforest. The EU stands by the EU-Mercosur agreement, Tusk told reporters at a G7 meeting in Biarritz in southern France.
G7 leaders gathering in France this weekend plan to hammer out “concrete measures” in response to the wildfires raging in the Amazon rainforest, putting them on a collision course with Brazil's rightwing leader.