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Presidents Lula and Alberto Fernandez (Argentina) during a Mercosur meeting
Item Information
- Author: Giulia Granchi
- role, reporter
- Twitter, @GranchiGiulia
- Reporting from BBC News Brasil in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina
2 hours ago
During the 62nd Mercosur Summit in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, the presidents of member countries Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia, an associated state, discussed expectations and needs for the bloc’s future.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in at the meeting as interim leader of the bloc, a post he will hold until the end of 2023. His priorities in this post include accelerating Bolivia’s official entry into the bloc, strengthening free trade between countries, including the auto and sugar sectors, and expanding the adoption of a common currency for trade transactions between neighbors.
The leaders’ speeches addressed issues of common interest, such as expanding trade agreements, using a common currency for imports and exports, and protecting the environment in South American territories.
More demanding issues were also highlighted, such as the trade deal with the European Union, the possible reintegration of Venezuela, which was expelled from the union in 2016, and Uruguay’s grievances that threaten the country’s stay in Mercosur.
Below we list the details of these challenges for the South American block:
Credit, Ricardo Stuckert/PR
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Guyana, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador also attended the summit as guests
In his opening speech, host Alberto Fernandéz criticized what he saw as protectionist practices in the agreement with the EU.
The European Union letter provides for sanctions if countries do not comply with environmental regulations. These include a ban on food grown with pesticides, which are widely used in Brazil but banned in Europe, and imports of wood that does not come from sustainable production chains.
“The presentation of new environmental demands by the European Union presents us with a partial vision of sustainable development. “A view that overly focuses on the environment without considering the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic and social) and their interdependence,” said the Argentine President.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva then took a similar position, adding details of his vision for the agreement.
“The additional instrument presented by the European Union in March this year is unacceptable. Strategic partners do not negotiate on the basis of distrust and the threat of sanctions. It is imperative that Mercosur react quickly and vigorously.”
The Brazilian government also defends maintaining the right to prioritize national products in government purchases, “one of the few industrial policy tools we still have,” Lula said.
“If we give up Brazilian companies to buy from foreign companies, we will just kill small and mediumsized Brazilian companies, small and mediumsized entrepreneurs and cut jobs in Brazil,” Lula declared live on his YouTube channel a few hours before the summit.
The Brazilian President briefly mentioned the possibility of a meeting between ministers of the bloc countries in order to solve at a technical level the problems that are still blocking the agreement.
The President hopes that the issue will be taken up again at the meeting of CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) with the European Union at a summit to be held in Brussels, capital of Belgium, from 17 to 18 July.
2. Complaints from Uruguay
At the beginning of the Mercosur summit last Monday (March 7), Uruguayan Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo made a surprising statement that his country might reconsider its membership of the Union.
“Either to change the founding treaty itself, or finally to consider the possibility of leaving Mercosur as a founding state and becoming an associated state,” said the Chancellor after attending the first day of the meeting in Puerto Iguazú.
In Mercosur, the associated states have fewer responsibilities and more freedom of trade, but do not have voting rights and do not have full participation in the common market.
Without mentioning the possibility described by the Chancellor, Uruguayan President Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou on Tuesday defended the bloc’s flexibility.
He said his priority is to move forward with the Mercosur trade deal. However, if this is not possible, his government is considering entering into bilateral agreements with countries such as China.
The Uruguayan government said it would not accept a position of immobility and criticized the lack of progress on treaties with other regions of the world.
“Uruguay is struggling to find markets. Our trade balance between the partner countries is in deficit,” said Lacalle Pou.
3. Venezuela’s return to the bloc
President Lula has previously mentioned the possibility of Venezuela’s readmission to the bloc. The country was suspended from Mercosur in 2016. At that time, the bloc justified the decision by saying that Venezuela did not meet the democratic criteria.
Lacalle Pou of Uruguay was the first to raise the issue, opposing the country’s return to the group.
“Mercosur must send a clear signal to the Venezuelan people to move towards a fullfledged democracy, which they don’t have today.”
“Everyone here knows what we think about the Venezuelan regime. You have to try to be objective. It is clear that Venezuela will not achieve a healthy democracy if, when the possibility of elections arises, a candidate like María Corina Machado, with enormous potential, is disqualified on political, not legal, grounds.”
According to the France Presse agency, María Corina Machado is the name of the opposition that seems best suited to the presidential elections in the country.
Last week, Venezuela’s Comptroller General announced that she would be banned from holding public office for 15 years because of “administrative irregularities”.
Machado challenged the decision.
“You are wrong if you think that at this moment the Venezuelan people will stop maneuvering (…) or bow their heads. It’s over. Here there is a single entity, a single voice that gives strength and that is the Venezuelan people,” he said.
Alberto Fernandez, President of Argentina, and Lula defended maintaining an open dialogue with Venezuela.
“As for the issue of Venezuela, all the problems that we have with democracy, we are not hiding from them, we are facing them. I don’t know the details of the problem with the candidate (María Corina Machado) from Venezuela, I intend to know,” Lula said.