The European Union and Mercosur will continue this Sunday (23.06.2019) the technical negotiation of an association agreement with a view to achieving the necessary progress to convene a meeting at ministerial level in which a key political boost will be given to the dialogue.
The chief negotiators of the EU and Mercosur countries - Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay - have been meeting in Brussels since Friday to try to resolve as many outstanding issues as possible in the negotiations.
The process "needs a political boost," according to diplomatic sources, but for a meeting at that level to take place, differences at a technical level will first need to be ironed out..
Among the most sensitive issues in the process are agriculture, especially beef and sugar, they said.
Last Friday, Spain sent a letter to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, which was joined by six other community leaders, requesting that negotiations with Mercosur be concluded in the face of "the threat of protectionism."
The Community States that support the agreement believe that, "In the current global context, it would be a very powerful signal that the system works, that the multilateral system must be respected, that bilateral agreements within a broader multilateral system are beneficial and can be beneficial for everyone.""diplomatic sources said.
«And that Europe continues to believe in rules-based trade, fair trade that can create prosperity and wealth.", they noted.
In parallel, France, Poland, Ireland and Belgium have sent another letter this week to the European Commission - the body that negotiates trade policy on behalf of the Twenty-Eight - in which they have expressed their concern about the effects of the treaty on their agriculture.
Supporters of the pact believe that it would "protect" compliance with the Paris agreements against climate change, because it is included as a condition in the text.
In his view, this would ensure that countries such as Brazil would be aligned with the Paris objectives.
Negotiations for a comprehensive association agreement - based on cooperation, political dialogue and free trade - between the EU and Mercosur began in Buenos Aires in April 2000 and have since been held in more than thirty rounds of negotiations, a complex process that has even been blocked for many years.
Over the past two years, there have been many optimistic comments predicting an agreement within a short period of time, but they have all passed without any agreement being reached.
Source: Reuters
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