On Monday 18 June, Uruguay's President Tabaré Vázquez, whose country is to chair the Mercosur bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) from 1 July, put pressure on the European Union for a swift conclusion of the free trade agreement that has been under negotiation since 1999.
"We are not prepared to waste time in eternal negotiations. Nor are we prepared to sign a watered-down version (of the agreement)”, Vázquez warned, saying that Uruguay wanted to negotiate a free trade...