However, the concerns of some European governments about environmental protection, especially in the Amazon jungle, have paralysed the agreement.
The EU has proposed a “side letter” to the agreement, with extra environmental guarantees, rankling South American leaders and slowing down progress to notching a final agreement.
Mercosur represents 62% of South America’s population and 67% of the continent’s gross domestic product.
Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has led the criticism of the EU’s environmental demands, telling reporters last month that “strategic partners should have a relationship of mutual trust, not mistrust and sanctions.”
The meeting in Puerto Iguazú takes place two weeks after the start in Brussels of the first EU-Latin America summit in the last eight years.
The Spanish presidency of the EU is seen as an opportunity to definitively conclude an ambitious pact with a market of 260 million consumers.
Source : Euro News
