First modification:
The president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, ratified the ultimatum that his Brazilian counterpart gave to the European Union to close the agreement with Mercosur at the end of this year. He clarified that if the deal has not been signed by December 6, he will not continue negotiations with the EU when his country takes over the pro tempore presidency of the Latin American bloc.
“If he does not close, I will not continue in the next semester,” with these words the Paraguayan president warned from Asunción that the negotiations between the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and the European Union (EU) would die, just when Paraguay receives from Brazil the transfer of the pro tempore presidency of the bloc, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
For the newly elected president of Paraguay, the negotiations that have already taken more than 25 years represent too much time for a final decision not to have been reached.
“This trade agreement is no longer a technical discussion, it is a political decision and This is not on the side of Mercosur, but rather it is on the side of the European Union“, stated Peña.
Although his ultimatum puts pressure on Brazil to close the agreement before December 6, the deadline is added to the one already set in June by Lula da Silva, who gave until the end of 2023 to sign the trade agreement between both parties.
Peña explained that in the temporary presidency of Paraguay in Mercosur he will focus on other businesses in other latitudes, turning his back on the possibility of achieving common points with the 27 European countries.
“I am going to dedicate the next semester to closing agreements with other regions of the world that I am sure we will reach an agreement very quickly,” said Peña.
The EU ambassador in Paraguay, Javier García de Viedma, harmonized his opinion with that of the Paraguayan president and this Monday, September 25, said that the fact that the negotiations have exceeded two decades is something that “exceeds commercial aspects.” .
In 2019, Mercosur and the European Union reached an association agreement, leaving some technical aspects pending to be resolved that would define how both blocks mutually trade.
Von der Leyen asked to expedite the Mercosur-European Union agreement before the end of 2023
These aspects were to be resolved this year, but the demands and demands of both sides have complicated its closure.
On the one hand, the Latin American bloc considers that European requests on environmental matters are “unacceptable” and would bring with them barriers to exports to the countries of the Old Continent; while the EU has put these demands on the table with the aim of putting pressure on the largest countries in the region that leave a greater footprint on the climate.
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