The president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Forplans to receive this Thursday the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenprior to a summit of the Mercosur in Montevideo that seeks to complete a free trade agreement in negotiation for 25 years.
“The President of the Republic, Luis Lacalle Pou, will receive the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and other authorities of the European Union at the Executive Tower”, reported the official website of the Uruguayan Presidency.
“The event will take place, to be confirmed, this Thursday, December 5, at 3:00 p.m.″(18H00 GMT), he specified.
Uruguay will host the 65th Mercosur summit on Thursday and Friday as it occupies the pro-tempore presidency of the South American bloc.
The treaty being discussed by the 27 EU countries and the founding members of the Southern Common Market –Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay-, would create the largest free trade area in the world.
“The expectation is that the technical agreement will be closed on Friday“, they pointed out to the AFP sources familiar with the negotiation.
The free trade agreement between the two blocs has encountered resistance from France, which fears that it will generate unfair competition with its farmers.
After an agreement in principle reached in 2019, negotiations stalled, but in recent months the European Commission, which determines trade policy for the entire EU, has pushed for their completion.
Germany and Spain, In particular, they are pushing for the quick completion of the pact, which would bring benefits to Brazilian beef producers and German automakers, among others.
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvawhose country represents 70% of Mercosur’s GDP, also aspires to finalize the agreement.
“We have hope”he said on Monday Mauricio Lyrio, Secretary of Economic and Financial Affairs of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We are at a critical moment” for an agreement “that would be historic,” he highlighted on his side. Omar Paganini, the Uruguayan foreign minister.
The possibility of closing the pact unleashed a new wave of protests in Europeespecially in France, where Emmanuel Macron’s government rejects it “fully and decisively.”
The text plans to eliminate a good part of the duty between the two areas, which add up to more than 700 million consumers and a combined GDP of $21.3 trillion.
The agricultural unions of the EU reject it because their production is not subject to the same environmental and social requirements, nor the same health standards, as that of the South American bloc.
The event in Montevideo will be the last participation of Lacalle Forwho will hand over his position on March 1, and the first of his Argentine counterpart, Javier Mileywho took office in December 2023 but missed the July summit in Asunción.
Both advocate making Mercosur more flexible so that countries can negotiate on their own bilateral treatiessomething that Lacalle For promoted without success since he took office in 2020 with a view to achieving an FTA with China.
Milei wants to modernize the bloc and, after the victory of Donald Trump, aspires to an FTA with the United States.
“The agreements are designed to make things better for the countries but not to be a corset that limits you and does not allow you to grow.“, declared the Argentine Foreign Minister, Gerardo Werthein.
It is not easy for Argentina to kick the can down the road, because Brazil is its largest trading partner and “a lot of water has to pass under the bridge” before an FTA with the United States, he warned the AFP Ignacio Bartesaghiprofessor of International Relations at the Catholic University of Uruguay.
Milei and Lula, who saw each other at the meeting of the G20 in Rio but maintain a tense relationship, they could finally speak in Montevideo.
“It is never good when two large regional economies, and one of them with attempts at global projection, such as Brazil, get along badly”Bartesaghi highlighted.
With the departure of Lacalle ForMilei will be more isolated in a Mercosur aligned with Lula.
The Uruguayan president-elect, Yamandú Orsi, who will attend the summit invited by Lacalle Fortraveled to Brasilia to see Lula da Silva days after his electoral victory.
The presidents of Bolivia, a full member since July, and of Panama, which will join as an associated state, are also invited to the summit in Montevideo.
(With information from AFP)
