Luxembourg, 27/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - The joint EU/Chile Council took place in a "very positive atmosphere" and "there were no points of divergence during our discussions", stressed the Swedish Trade Minister, Leif Pagrotsky, after the meeting on Tuesday in Luxembourg. The Chilean Foreign Minister, Soledad Alvear, supported by Spain, did not, however, receive any firm assurance that the free trade agreement negotiations would be concluded rapidly. The joint press release simply indicates that: "the EU notes Chile's wish to make rapid headway in these talks and to conclude them before the Madrid Summit in May 2002". "We have stressed our will to reach a result rapidly and to hold as many meetings as required to this end", said the Chilean Minister. "We have no intention of putting a brake on negotiations, but the aim is not to have an increasing large number of unproductive meetings. We must show realism", commented Leif Pagrotsky. In a letter to the Commission, Spain called for a meeting to be organised each month, from the 5th negotiating round, in ten days' time in Santiago. The parties, however, will not be able to meet during the August Commission break or during the month of November, which will be dominated by WTO talks in Doha, noted one Chilean diplomat. Between sessions, "negotiations should progress within technical groups", specifies the same source.
Answering questions on the possibility of speeding up the conclusion of negotiations with Chile, European negotiator Guy Legras did not rule out the possibility that the Commission might suggest the Council modify the European negotiating brief, which links the conclusion of EU/Mercosur and EU/Chile negotiations to that of multilateral negotiations at the World Trade Organisation. "We defined the brief before the meeting in Seattle, at a time when it was thought that multilateral talks would result in three years", recalled Mr Pagrotsky. "If the political perspective is to conclude negotiations with Chile before the Madrid summit, then I cannot predict what the situation will be at the WTO", remarked Mr Legras, who added that "if the conclusion of negotiations with Chile is satisfactory, I think that the question should be put to the Council".