MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, September 19th 2026 - 23:46 UTC

Tag: European Union

  • Wednesday, September 16th 2026 - 17:07 UTC

    EU proposes Canada as its first 'associate member', a status that does not yet exist

    Full membership is not on the table: Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union reserves membership for European states

    European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed on Wednesday that Canada become the European Union's first “associate member,” a status not provided for in the bloc's treaties and whose details have not been defined.

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  • Thursday, September 10th 2026 - 21:19 UTC

    Gibraltar reaffirms British sovereignty on National Day, first since UK-EU treaty

    Crowds gather in Casemates Square for Gibraltar's National Day rally, marking 59 years since the 1967 sovereignty referendum. Photo: Jim Watt

    Once again, it is the 10th of September, when Gibraltar celebrates its National Day on the anniversary of the 1967 referendum on whether to remain British or join Franco’s Spain. The result was decisive, and despite the demise of the fascist dictatorship, Gibraltar remains resolutely British.

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  • Monday, August 31st 2026 - 08:21 UTC

    Ceuta’s anti migrant ‘invasion’ rhetoric threatens Europe’s food supply and economy

    The vast majority of migrants soon returned to Morocco, but at present, as many as 5,000 remain in Ceuta, many of them unaccompanied minors

    By Diana Tung and Seth M. Holmes (*)

    In August 2026, a deep humanitarian crisis unfolded in Ceuta, a small Spanish enclave situated on Morocco’s northern coast. Around 72,000 people entered from Morocco over the course of two days. More than 100 drowned drowned trying to cross into Spanish territory.

  • Thursday, June 25th 2026 - 22:13 UTC

    The EU deal's quota split will dominate the Mercosur summit as Uruguay takes the helm

    The agreement's commercial chapter entered provisionally into force on May 1, after more than 25 years of negotiations

    The internal distribution of export quotas under the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union will dominate much of the debate at the bloc's summit of heads of state, to be held on June 30 in Asunción, where Paraguay will hand over the six-month presidency to Uruguay. The meeting coincides with the 35th anniversary of the Treaty of Asunción, the bloc's founding charter.

  • Friday, June 12th 2026 - 06:17 UTC

    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.”

  • Tuesday, June 2nd 2026 - 23:06 UTC

    EU-Mercosur trade deal takes effect provisionally as legal challenge awaits ruling

    Practical implementation is already showing its first challenges

    A month after the provisional entry into force of the trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur, exchanges have been governed since May 1 by the terms agreed upon, while political and legal attention in Brussels centers on the EU Court of Justice, which must rule on the validity of the mechanism chosen to launch the treaty.

  • Saturday, May 23rd 2026 - 02:34 UTC

    Uruguay captures 63% of Mercosur's annual rice quota to the European Union

    Uruguay this week filled 63% of the annual zero-tariff rice quota granted by the European Union to Mercosur, in the first significant trade milestone since the provisional entry into force, on 1 May, of the association agreement between the two blocs. The total quota of 6,667 tons for the current year was covered within a few weeks of activity, according to Acting Foreign Minister Valeria Csukasi, in what amounts to one of the first operational tests of the treaty signed on 17 January in Asunción.

  • Wednesday, May 20th 2026 - 01:27 UTC

    The European Union unblocks tariff deal with United States after ten months of negotiation

    The ratification process was delayed by the reluctance of the European Parliament, which at the start of the year blocked the text in response to the Trump administration's threats against Greenland

    Negotiators from the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission reached a provisional agreement in the early hours of Wednesday on the final text of the tariff pact with the United States, in a decision that closes ten months of negotiations marked by pressures, threats, and successive blockages in the European Parliament. The Cypriot presidency of the Council, exercised during the first half of 2026, confirmed the breakthrough through the X social media platform and emphasized that the aim of the agreement is to “enhance a stable and predictable trade relationship” between the two blocs.

  • Monday, May 11th 2026 - 14:42 UTC

    Delcy Rodríguez defends Essequibo claim at The Hague under temporary EU sanctions waiver

    For Venezuela, the Essequibo appears on its official maps as a “zone of reclamation.” For Guyana, the Venezuelan claim represents an existential threat to its territorial integrity

    Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday to defend her country's claim to the Essequibo, the border region disputed with Guyana, before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The trip, authorized under a specific waiver to the European Union sanctions imposed on her, marks her first major international journey outside the Caribbean since the capture of President Nicolás Maduro by US forces in January, which paved the way for her to assume office as interim leader.

  • Friday, May 1st 2026 - 06:40 UTC

    After 25 years of negotiation, the Mercosur-EU agreement takes effect this Friday

    The accord was signed on January 17th in La Asunción, Paraguay

    The association agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) enters provisionally into force on Friday May 1, after more than a quarter-century of negotiations, in what constitutes one of the world's most ambitious trade deals and the largest reciprocal opening ever finalised by the South American bloc. The final signing took place on January 17 in Asunción and, although final ratification by the European Court of Justice and subsequent approval by the European Parliament remain pending, provisional entry into force allows the immediate start of tariff reductions covering 95% of Mercosur products and 91% of EU products.

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