Venezuela will continue as member of Mercosur but with no right to vote, since it has not fully incorporated all the group's rules and regulations as had been agreed, revealed Uruguay's foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa on Friday in Montevideo.
Cheaper imports from Mercosur and the recovering dairy market will push down EU beef production and prices, states in a long-awaited impact study released by the European Union. Dairy and pigmeat exports will see steady gains, says the report, which looked at the cost of 12 pending trade deals on EU agri-food markets.
Argentina's Lower House left its peers from the Mercosur Parliament, Parlasur, with no allowances, despite claims from most of its 43 members. Last week the Chamber of Deputies approved the Argentine budget which must now be considered by the Senate.
The President of Mercosur’s parliament (Parlasur) thinks that the European Union’s current tabled offer is “unsatisfactory” and made it clear that it shouldn’t be signed in its current form. Jorge Taiana, head of the parliament, and former foreign minister with ex president Cristina Fernandez, complained that the negotiations, which resumed about seven years ago, are taking far too long, but added that in the absence of a “balanced agreement”, nothing should be signed.
Brazilian president Michel Temer said that Portugal and Spain are determined to help speed trade negotiations between Mercosur and the European Union. Temer made the announcement on hosting Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa who was on a brief visit to Brazil for the Community of Portuguese Language Countries summit in Brasilia.
Argentine president Mauricio Macri promised his Uruguayan peer Tabare Vazquez to look into the draft of a Uruguay/China free trade deal, and expressed their deep concern about political events in Venezuela suggesting that under the current circumstances the Nicolas Maduro government cannot be considered a member of Mercosur.
Uruguay and Argentina, and their cabinets will be meeting this Monday in Buenos Aires to address a bilateral agenda, which was agreed long before hand, but the real issue will not necessarily be trade, dredging canals, pulp mills, customs or facilitating people's movement, but rather the negotiations for a free trade agreement which supposedly Uruguay is about to begin discussing with China.
Tensions inside Mercosur can be attributed to the fact that Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay share a development economic model which distances them from Venezuela, and are prepared to advance in trade negotiations with the European Union, and even with the Pacific Alliance. Venezuela on the other hand has as its main priority putting the deteriorated economy back on the growth track, according to the UN regional economic commission ECLAC, chair Alicia Barcena.
The European Union and Mercosur could strike a free trade deal within two years, according to Argentina’s Commerce Secretary Miguel Braun. After Brexit, Mercosur would be open to a separate trade deal with the UK. Trade negotiations between the EU and Mercosur nations are still on track, despite the UK’s decision to leave the bloc and uncertainty over the future of the EU’s other major trade agreements – TTIP and CETA.
Mercosur has “lost focus” because of years of political and ideological discussions instead of concentrating in trade integration, commented Nigel Baker, deputy head of the Foreign Office South America's department during a two day visit to Paraguay. The ex ambassador in the Vatican also anticipated that Brexit, UK leaving the European Union will help strengthen overall relations with Paraguay, one of Mercosur four founding members.