Portuguese Prime Minister this Friday stressed the “political will” to conclude the agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), hoping for a conclusion by the end of the year what would be the “major economic deal”?
“All leaders […] have reaffirmed the same desire that we can conclude the agreement with Mercosur by the end of the year and we have all tried to find solutions so that we can overcome the blockade we have found,” said the head of government.
Speaking in Brussels on the sidelines of the EU summit with the countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which started this Monday in Brussels and will last until Tuesday, after eight years without high-level meetings between the blocks, António Costa said he hoped “that it will be possible to get there”, not least because “the political will is not lacking and that is the most important thing”, since “there were times when there was not even a political will” .
“I think everyone is working to conclude this agreement with Mercosur by the end of the Spanish presidency [da UE, que decorre até final de dezembro]which would just be the most important economic deal there is, more important than what we have with the United States […] and with Canada,” said the prime minister.
António Costa emphasized that “there are several possible technical solutions” to achieve this and considered that “the very recently found solution for the modernization of the agreement with Chile is an excellent example”. negotiating the agreement with Chile Mexico”.
“Let’s hope that Mercosur is the next step and that obviously requires a lot of effort, but […] an institution like the EU, with between them 27 countries with such divergent interests, plus the Mercosur countries, which also have quite divergent interests, it is sometimes difficult to find the balance point that makes the trade deal fair and beneficial for all,” he said. added.
The EU now awaits Mercosur’s response to the additional document proposed by the community bloc.
The position comes after Brazilian President Lula da Silva this afternoon defended an EU-Mercosur deal “based on mutual trust” and not “threats”, arguing that European environmental demands are “an excuse for protectionism”.
Within the EU, countries such as France and Austria are contesting the EU-Mercosur agreement – formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – on commercial and environmental grounds.
The current Spanish presidency of the EU hopes that this summit will be a starting point for developments towards the EU-Mercosur agreement, which covers 25% of the world economy and 780 million people, almost 10% of the world’s population.
Such is also the ambition of Lula da Silva, who said on Monday he hopes the EU and Mercosur will finalize the trade deal this year, to “open the horizon” for regional blocs and ask for “a sign” of commitment.
This Monday and Tuesday, Brussels will host the first summit in eight years between the EU and the CELAC countries, which will be attended by more than 50 leaders, including Lula da Silva and António Costa.
This is the third EU summit with CELAC, eight after the 2015 meeting, and aims to strengthen the partnership between the two regions to prepare them for new challenges.
Costa downplays differences over Ukraine between the EU and Latin America
At the Brussels summit, the prime minister downplayed the differences between the countries of the European Union (EU) and those of Latin America regarding the war in Ukraine, as “it is a sign that the world is diverse”.
“It is a sign that the world is diverse and that the world does not look at all problems with the same eyes,” claimed António Costa during a break in the work of the EU summit with the countries of the Community of Latin America and the Caribbean States area (CELAC).
The Portuguese Prime Minister stressed that “it is normal that there is no common position between so many countries” on the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February last year, but he argued that it is essential to have constant cooperation between the two blocs . .
“It is important that we mainly work together. The more we do, the more the differences fade. Europe is also plural, in Latin America the positions are also plural,” he added.
The mention of Russia for invading Ukraine in the summit’s closing statement divides the two regional blocs.
Despite only starting bilateral meetings and a meeting between the leaders of the EU and the Caribbean on Monday, the difficulties of reaching a consensus between the 27 European member states and the 33 countries of the Latin American bloc have already known. closing statement.
In the most recent version of the closing statement, which Lusa had access to and is still under negotiation, the leaders of both regional blocs agree to “express concern about the ongoing war in Ukraine, which continues to cause immense human suffering”, but the CELAC countries do not want Russia named as the instigator of the conflict.
European diplomatic sources have told Lusa that this is “the main point of difference”, which is why negotiations are taking place between the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the rotating Spanish Presidency of the Council, and the Presidency of CELAC, Ralph Gonçalves, also Prime Minister of San Vincent and the Grenadines.
“We want to reach the right and balanced compromise, show ambition, and sometimes that means giving in,” they added from both regional blocs.
Specifically, according to these community sources, while Europeans want a clear reference to Russia in this paragraph about the war in Ukraine, Latin American and Caribbean countries prefer a more general condemnation of the conflict, without specifying.
At stake are the various positions in the Latin American bloc, namely Brazil’s.
At the conference, Brazilian President Lula da Silva criticized the “arms race that makes the fight against climate change even more difficult” and believed that the invasion of Ukraine drains resources that could be earmarked for socio-economic programs.
Source: DN
