Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 25th July 2006

All of the Pink Tide’s heaviest hitters were in perfect condition at the 30th Presidential Summit of the Mercado Comun del Sur (MERCOSUR), the South American regional trading bloc, which convened last Thursday and Friday in Córdoba, Argentina. The summit’s primary focus was the smooth integration of Venezuela into the regional trading bloc, which already consists of full members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay and associate members Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Additionally, the 2-day agenda included discussions of pending trade agreements with external allies, a common customs code, the appointment of members to the Administrative Labor Court, and the establishment of a consistent MERCOSUR bargaining position for the all-but collapsed WTO Doha round negotiations.
Read 

The People's Dialogue Project, April 2006

Regional integration processes in South America have advanced significantly, in the past 25 years, as an attempt to deal with the worsening of the economic and social situation which the continent had to face after the foreign debt crisis in 1982. The objectives of this paper are to give an overview of these processes, especially as they concern MERCOSUR, and propose alternatives from the standpoint of civil society organizations.
read

Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 6th July 2004

• The European Union and Mercosur are lurching closer towards finalizing a free trade agreement.

• In trade talks that have gestated for almost a decade, the EU and Mercosur have each made serious concessions in order to reach a compromise.

• Brazil is becoming a super player in the international arena and a Mercosur trade pact with the EU could propel it forward into stardom.

• An EU-Mercosur trade agreement would hold serious implications for Western Hemispheric commerce and politics.

Claudia Torrelli, REDES (Uruguay)
TNI/Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) Info Brief, August 2003

 
Negotiations on a free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) have entered their decisive stage. Beyond its pro-development rhetoric, the EU's primary goal is to secure markets for European corporations, in the competition with the US over control of Latin America. This explains the influence of the Mercosur-European Business Forum (MEBF), which urges governments to further deepen the process of deregulation, privatisation and liberalisation which has swept the region in the 90s, with dramatic social and environmental consequences.