The 42nd Mercosul summit was held in Montevideo on 20–21st December, with President Dilm Rousseff in attendance along with her counterparts from Argentina, Paraguay, and
Uruguay. The most important political issue addressed was Venezuela's
membership in the
trading bloc.
The Paraguayan Senate continues to oppose it, as it has for the last three
years. At the initiative of Uruguay, and via convoluted legal reasoning, an
attempt
was made to by-pass parliamentary ratification to permit Venezuela to join.
Ecuador's application is also expected. It was decided that about 200 products
will
be exempted from Mercosul's Common External Tariff and therefore have their
tariff raised by up to 35 per cent. This is multilateralised protectionism.
Another decision taken at the summit, at the behest of Argentina, was to
prohibit ships bearing the flag of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) from access
to the
ports of member countries. This extends a prohibition that has been in force
for
several years in Argentina. The summit also approved a free trade agreement
with
the Palestinian Authority (a quid pro quo for having in earlier years approved
one with Israel).
The slim results of this Mercosul summit reflect the mediocrity of the trading
group's agenda. Shortly after the summit, the Pacific Alliance (Chile,
Colombia,
Mexico) held its second summit, on 4th December at Mérida, Mexico. Panama
indicated it might join. The trade volume of Alliance members may soon exceed
that of
Mercosul partners. In any event, the very creation of the Alliance may be
interpreted as contrary to Brazil's old aspiration to a South American common
market.
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© 2011 Menas Associates