Next week, the 55th Mercosur Heads of State Meeting will take place, where the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, will receive his peers in the town of Bento Goncalvez, Rio Grande do Sul, amid strong political disputes within and outside the customs union.
The meeting will be the last one attended by President Mauricio Macri before the transfer of power on December 10.
The meeting, which was initially scheduled to take place in mid-December, was brought forward by the Brazilian president, following the exchanges with the president-elect of Argentina, Alberto Fernández.
The Deliberations will begin on Monday, December 2, when the Common Market Trade Committee meets, which will present all the suggested amendments to the Treaty, sector by sector.
On Tuesday 3, the Common Market Group, which is the executive body of Mercosur, will approve the changes suggested by the Trade Commission, in the context of strong disputes between the main partners of the bloc over the level of the common external tariff.
The following day, the Common Market Council, which is the highest political body in the bloc, will issue the decisions agreed upon during the summit.
The Deliberations will culminate on Thursday 5th with the summit of the presidents of the signatory countries of the Treaty of Asunción.
The president of Brazil suggested a few weeks ago lower the common external tariff from 14% to 6% of the bloc, following the decision to open its economy.
This sparked an exchange of statements between Brasilia and Buenos Aires and, although the dispute did not escalate, it forced all parties to discuss the new tariff structure.
Bolsonaro expressed his disagreement and threatened to buy 750.000 tons of wheat from the United States if their demands were not met, virtually ruining any chance of reaching an agreement during the summit.
Brazil produces only 5 million tons of wheat compared to a demand for consumption of about 12 million tons of the cereal, which is usually sold by Argentina.
On car caseBrasilia is seeking to reduce the external tariff from 35% to 20%, which would force all companies with plants located on either side of the border to review their investment plans.
It is in this framework that Mercosur managed to sign a free trade agreement with the European Union, after 20 years of negotiations. The agreement will begin to be discussed sector by sector, with a period of about 10 years to adapt the productions of both blocks.
European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said this week that the agreement signed with Mercosur is "alive and kicking", despite criticism from European farmers and those who believe it does not meet sufficient requirements to protect the Amazon.
"The agreement with Mercosur is alive and kicking. We have concluded it at the political level and we are now confirming the final technical details, and the translation and legal verification are ongoing," Malmström said, according to EFE.
The Commissioner expressed her hope that "perhaps by the end of next year" it could be "ready to be presented to the ministers for further processing."
In response to criticism of Brazil's attitude towards deforestation in the Amazon, the European Commission has insisted that the legally binding environmental commitments made by the signatories must wait until the association agreement enters into force.
The commissioner warned that "we are in political contact with all the governments of Mercosur, and all our colleagues say that if these principles are not respected, there will be difficulties in respecting the agreement."
Source: Telam
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