
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.”
Add your comment!
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The European Parliament approved on Thursday, by a wide majority, a resolution urging the Council of the European Union not to lift sanctions imposed on those responsible for human rights violations in Venezuela until the country adopts significant measures toward a peaceful transition to democracy. The text, promoted by the European People's Party, gained 507 votes in favor, 31 against, and 35 abstentions, and was backed even by the Socialists and Democrats group despite internal divergences over the strategy toward the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez.

A new Brazilian digital platform began operating on Monday to cross-check social and environmental data and support the tracing of commodity chains linked to deforestation, land conflicts and other rural violations.

Opposition leader Péter Magyar won Hungary's parliamentary elections on Sunday in a landslide that ends Viktor Orbán's 16 consecutive years in power. With 97% of votes counted, Magyar's Tisza party secured 138 of 199 parliamentary seats — a two-thirds supermajority granting the power to amend the constitution. Orbán's Fidesz won 55 seats, while the far-right Our Homeland party took six.

The European Union on Monday formally adopted temporary flexibility measures to help truck and bus manufacturers meet their 2030 CO2 emission reduction targets, without altering long-term goals.