The Mercosur summit, scheduled for the end of the year in Rio de Janeiro, was accelerated to December 7 by Brazil, the country leading the bloc, to avoid Argentina’s new president, whose inauguration is scheduled for the 10th , Participate. According to Brazilian portal G1, the motivation is not only logistical, but also political.
Brazil does not want to take the risk that the ultra-right Javier Milei, candidate for president of the La Libertad Avanza coalition and known opponent of Mercosur, will be present at the meeting, even taking into account the fact that Sergio is the most voted in the first round. Massa, from Unión Pela Pátria, centre-left, current Minister of Economic Affairs.
During the campaign, Milei, whose formal support from third-placed Patrícia Bullrich, center-right candidate of the Juntos Por El Cambio coalition, puts him back as the favorite, declared that “Mercosur must be eliminated.”
The meeting could therefore be the last international commitment of Alberto Fernández, outgoing president and Massa’s ally.
Interestingly, the 2019 Mercosur summit, in Bento Gonçalves, was marked by identical tensions, but with shifting camps. At the time, there were tensions between Jair Bolsonaro, then president of Brazil, and Alberto Fernández, who had just been elected in Argentina by defeating Maurício Macri, from the center right and formally supported by the Brazilian head of state. It was also Macri and not Fernández who was present at one of his last acts in office.
Mercosur is an intergovernmental organization consisting of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay since 1991. Venezuela has been suspended from the bloc and Bolivia is awaiting ratification to join.
Source: DN
