
Following decades of negotiations and a high-stakes “now or never” deadline set for this week, the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) bloc has officially adopted a stance of cautious optimism after the European Union (EU) failed to secure the necessary internal mandate to sign the historic Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on Saturday.

The highly anticipated signing of the free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), originally scheduled for this Saturday in Foz do Iguaçu, has been officially postponed until January following a surge in domestic pressure and mass protests by European farmers.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued a sharp ultimatum to European leaders on Wednesday, declaring that if the long-awaited EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is not signed this Saturday, he will abandon negotiations for the remainder of his presidency.

Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was in Santiago on Saturday, meeting with Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno and President Sebastián Piñera.

At least fourteen presidents, including Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos and Venezuela’ Hugo Chavez, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have confirmed they will be present next January first in Brasilia when Dilma Rousseff takes office as Brazil’s first woman president.

President Evo Morales announced on Friday that Bolivia would recognize Palestine as an independent sovereign state. The Bolivian leader made the statement during the Mercosur summit in Brazil.

Uruguayan president Jose Mujica called on the Mercosur summit for a quick incorporation of Venezuela as full member of the group and said it was time the rest of Latin America moved closer to the integration process.

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner underlined the significance of Venezuela as a full member of Mercosur which should enable the group to consolidate an energy front.

Conditions are ready to reach in the short term a trade agreement with the European Union, said Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo whose country, and for the next six months, holds the pro tempore chair of the South American block.

Member nations of Mercosur will seek to boost economic and political ties with Cuba in a bid to make the island an associate member of the trade bloc.