Brussels / Madrid, 03/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - "Negotiations with Mercosur will be arduous", warned the European Commission for External Relations, Chris Patten, when speaking at the Casa de America, in Madrid on Thursday. Speaking on the eve of his departure for Argentina, Brazil and Chile to provide a renewed impetus to negotiations over the association agreements being envisaged (see EUROPE of 1 November, p.7), the Commissioner remarked that, "like any other negotiations, we are going to have to make concessions, including in sensitive areas like agriculture. And we shall certainly fail if there are no clear commitments by Member States, like Spain, to look beyond the immediate political impact of such concessions on the economic benefits and long-term politics".
Commissioner Patten emphasised that the partnership "will not only be economic. It also encourages political dialogue and creates the context of long-term stable and productive relations", which is not the case with the Free-Trade Association of the Americas launched by the United States, he remarked. He recalled that European investments now exceeded that of the United States in the region. "In 1998, 15% of EU foreign direct investments were targeted at Latin America", he stressed. "This year, European companies have invested as much in Mercosur as in Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia together". In addition, he continued, "of the 25 largest foreign companies present in Latin America in 1998, 14 were European and 11 American. However, European investments in the region seem to have attained a threshold and "tend to focus on a few sectors: banking, finance and public infrastructures". Whence, one of the main goals of the future agreement is "clear": "to ensure that conditions in which European companies operate in Latin America are good, if not better than those granted to companies coming from elsewhere".
Turning to the question of cooperation, the Commissioner stressed that the EU would continue to support the Mercosur integration process, "notably in areas such as services and public procurement", that are not yet sectors covered by the common market of Latin America. "Mercosur possibilities go beyond the economic field: Mercosur has the capacity of becoming the pillar of political stability in the Latin American region as a whole", said Chris Patten.