Brussels, 26/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Pascal Lamy, responsible for trade, flew off Tuesday evening for a six-day trip to Latin America which will take him to Argentina, Brazil and Chile. This visit - the first by a European Commissioner since the beginning of the crisis in Argentina - demonstrates the Union's support for this country and its commitment to strengthening the "Mercosur family", Mr. Lamy declared on the eve of his departure.
In Buenos Aires, where he will be on 1 and 2 March, the Commissioner will deliver a political message of support and highlight the lessons that Europe has learnt from the dramatic situation this "friendly" country is experiencing, i.e., that it incites it to go further forward in the integration and strengthening of Mercosur rather than the contrary. Talks that Lamy will have at the highest level will be on the requests for trade openings that Argentina sent to Brussels, two weeks ago. These requests, aimed notably at increasing the European quota for top-quality, so-called "Hilton", beef, will be examined closely, demonstrating "good will" the spokesperson said on Tuesday. This issue will doubtless be at the centre of talks that the Commissioner for Agriculture Franz Fischler will have in Barcelona with his Argentinean counterpart next Monday. "We have ideas on meat", said the spokesperson, while recalling the Union's very limited room for manoeuvre, notably in the framework of the Generalise System of Preferences. The graduation mechanism for unilateral concessions, provided for in that context, is governed by identical economic criteria for all, and has no provision allowing for exceptions to be made for any country, he recalled.
In Brazil, first stage of his rounds, Mr Lamy will again stress all the importance the Union attaches to Mercosur and its desire to cement the excellent relations it has developed with that country within the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Finally, his trip to Chile, from 2 to 4 March, coincides with the opening of the 9th session of negotiations on the bilateral association agreement (see EUROPE of 2 February, p.11 and 26 January, p.9). Talks he is to have with President Lagos and Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear, should give rise to further political impetus to the last furlong on free trade, and which the Union, like Chile, hope to conclude on the occasion of the 2nd Summit with Latin America, in Madrid on 18 and 19 May.