Portugal has become the latest country to introduce austerity measures, after both Greece and Spain took similar steps to stabilize public finances in the face of massive debt.
While the Argentine government remained silent, European Union country ambassadors showed up at the Argentine Congress Thursday in order to protest against food import restrictions. The ambassadors, however, saved their criticisms and instead spoke in a conciliatory tone before the Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee, although they did not hide their “growing worry.”
The European Union and Mercosur will officially re-launch negotiations for a trade and cooperation agreement they have been discussing since 1999 in the coming Madrid summit, in spite of fears about their farm sectors from several European countries, said the EU representative for Paraguay and Uruguay.
Ten European countries, fearing the impact on agriculture, are openly challenging the EU decision to resume trade talks with Mercosur which is to be officially announced next Monday when the opening of the Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union Summit in Spain.
Government deficits in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark and Finland have gone too far over the 3% of GDP reference value for the European Union and need to be brought down through stronger budget consolidation measures, concluded the European Commission in reports considered on Wednesday.
United States trade deficit rose to a 15-month high in March as rising imports underlined the economy's recovery. Figures from the Commerce Department showed the gap between imports and exports rose 2.5% to 40.4 billion US dollars.
The European Union asked Argentina not to restrict food imports, which was reported by manufacturers and producers. Manufacturing sources said that restrictions began being applied in the last few days on products that are also elaborated locally, in a non-written measure that primarily affects the EU and Brazil.
Under pressure from Europe to deliver (shape up or ship out) Spain's PM has outlined a plan to tackle the country's budget crisis, amid concerns that problems afflicting Greece may spread across the Eurozone.
European countries saddled with debt should focus on cutting deficits in the wake of policy makers' unprecedented efforts to contain the region's sovereign-debt crisis, said John Lipsky from the International Monetary Fund.
France and six other countries expressed concern before the European Union about the competition consequences for the farm sector in the event of an agreement with Mercosur.