Still unable to reach an agreement with the European Union, Mercosur member countries are trying to diversify their commercial partnerships. In a speech on Saturday, 20th, during the 67th Mercosur Summit, held in Foz do Iguaçu (PR), president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated that negotiations are underway with countries such as Japan and Vitenã.
“Unfortunately, Europe has not yet made up its mind. European leaders asked for additional time to decide on an agreement,” said Lula, who once again urged the leaders of the European bloc. “Without political will and courage on the part of leaders, it will not be possible to conclude negotiations that have been dragging on for 26 years.”
The initial idea was that a free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union would be signed during the summit – which marked the end of the Brazilian rotating presidency of the bloc, now transferred to Paraguay for the next six months -, but pressure exerted mainly by the French government postponed a final solution.
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Lula said he received, last Friday, a letter from the presidents of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the European Council, António Costa, in which both expressed their expectation of seeing the agreement approved in January.
“We were like the groom waiting for the bride at the altar”, lamented the president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña. “We missed an opportunity.”
The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, once again made a series of criticisms of Mercosur during the bloc’s plenary session. He said that the objectives of the customs union were never achieved and that there is excessive internal bureaucracy, which hindered agreements such as the one with the European Union.
“Mercosur was born with a clear mission to promote trade, increase prosperity, integrate markets and increase the competitiveness of our societies and none of the central objectives were fulfilled,” said Milei. “There is no common market, there is no effective free movement, there is no macroeconomic coordination, there is no real regulatory harmonization, there is no significant increase in internal trade, there is not sufficient openness to the world.”
