Argentine President Mauricio Macri said on Monday (3.12.2018) that before the G20 summit last weekend, Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro confirmed to him that he wants to move forward in negotiations between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) but that he needs to “see how things are” and “take his position.”
“I spoke with my new colleague Jair Bolsonaro before the G20 started and he confirmed that he wants to move forward with this agreement. Of course, he needs to see how it is and take his position.”, declared the Argentine president at a press conference in Buenos Aires, called to analyze the results of the summit.
Three pillars
The EU and Mercosur negotiate an agreement based on three pillars –political dialogue, cooperation and free trade– for almost two decades now, although in the last two years they have registered a boost and there are several voices that consider that the final signing is close.
However, the already drawn-out negotiations and the doubts about Bolsonaro's position on Mercosur when he takes office on January 1 are compounded by the reluctance expressed this Saturday in Buenos Aires by French President Emmanuel Macron.
The French leader warned that his country "will not accept agreements" with powers that do not respect the Paris Agreement, in reference to Bolsonaro, who during the electoral campaign expressed his disagreement with this text against climate change, of which Macron is one of its greatest defenders.
Macri said he had agreed to meet with Bolsonaro “as soon as possible in the summer” and discuss the issue, and announced that on December 10 there will be a new technical meeting between the EU and Mercosur, where it is hoped to “make progress.”
“It is clearly a very long-overdue agreement. This negotiation has been going on for more than 20 years,” he reiterated, and assumed that “all” the leaders are “aware” of it, since he spoke about it with leaders such as Angela Merkel (Germany), Macron himself, Pedro Sánchez (Spain) or Italy (Giuseppe Conte).
“Everyone agreed that it is a great opportunity for everyone to reach this agreement,” he said, adding that “unfortunately all these delays have led to the creation of a new authority, even though it has not yet taken office, in Brazil.”
Macri added that “clearly,” the most important thing that the Mercosur countries have understood is that this group “has been the most closed block in the world” and that caused it to grow “much less” than other regions.
Mercosur and Great Britain
Among the 17 bilateral meetings held over the weekend, in parallel to the summit, was the meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May.
"We know that the United Kingdom is separating from Europe and that also opens up the opportunity to generate specific exchange agreements with Mercosur and they are also open to them.", argument.
Source: Efe
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