Madrid, 18/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 17 May, the 4th EU/Mercosur Summit decided to rekindle talks on the trade chapter of a future cooperation and association agreement despite the opposition expressed the same day by ten European countries that fear the adverse impact that such a free trade agreement could have on their agricultural sector (EUROPE 10140). After six years of paralysis, these talks should begin during the first week of July. No-one has taken the risk of predicting how long the talks will last. A trade agreement with the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) would allow the EU not to lose too much ground compared to its competitors, China in particular. It would complete mapping of the free trade agreements concluded with Latin American countries after those with Mexico and Chile or that will be signed on Wednesday 19 May in Madrid with two Andean countries (Colombia, Peru) and Central America (see related article).
Describing the resumption of talks as “good news”, Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner called on the parties to “stop seeing themselves as customers” and to consider themselves as members of one and the same club. She rejected any form of protectionism - customs duties, subsidies for production and exports, tax exemptions, etc. Opposition to reactivating negotiations comes “from countries that are afraid for their agricultural subsidies”, she said, speaking ironically about the “€20,000 European cash cow”. She illustrated the Mercosur countries' capacity for openness in the industrial sector through the presence in her own country of eight European motor assembly plants which, taking advantage of low-cost production, have access to the international market.
Represented by the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Durao Barroso, and the Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Europeans stressed the importance of reaching an agreement that is both “ambitious and balanced”. Van Rompuy said a trade agreement of this kind would be an excellent response to attempts at protectionism. According to Rodriguez Zapatero, a future EU/Mercosur agreement would be the “most important free trade agreement ever signed”, and it would promote an increase in trade evaluated at €5,000 million. Upon opposition voiced by some member states, he said that a majority of countries were in favour of such an initiative. He went on to add that the “major beneficiaries” of a trade agreement would above all be the countries of Mercosur - Paraguay would see its GDP rise by 10%, Uruguay by 2%, Argentina and Brazil by 0.5%, and the EU by 0.1%. “We are simply reactivating the talks. There will be an outcome if these talks are well conducted”, Barroso said, contemplating a process of gradual access to the market in the most sensitive sectors. (M.B./transl.jl)