MERCOSUR AND THE EU: THE FALSE MIRROR

Detlef Nolte,Clarissa Correa Ribeiro Neto

doi:10.1590/0102-087122/112

Abstract

Abstract The relations with the European Union (EU) began almost with the Mercosur’s creation. After signing a first framework agreement in 1995, the EU and Mercosur began negotiating a comprehensive interregional partnership with a free trade agreement since 1999. Negotiations were conducted with ups and downs, suspended, and resumed over a period of more than 20 years, and up to Mercosur’s 30th anniversary there is still no free trade agreement ratified with the EU. Based on the broad literature on the relations between the EU and Mercosur (both by European and Latin American authors) and on the analysis of official documents and declarations from the EU and Mercosur, this paper proposes some explanations as to why these negotiations have progressed so slowly and faced so many obstacles.

Highlights

René Magritte’s famous surrealist painting titled TheFalse Mirror, on display at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, gives room for many interpretations
One can interpret it as a reflection of one’s perception limitations and subjectivity, which may produce images that we wish to see. It captures the interaction between observer and observed; as the museum’s catalogue writes, “it places the viewer on the spot, caught between looking through and being watched by an eye that proves to be empty” (MoMA, 2021)
It remains to be seen what will prevail in the end: the European Union (EU) Commission’s geopolitical and geo-economic vision, or the protectionism of individual member states hidden behind lofty claims

Summary

Introduction

False Mirror, on display at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, gives room for many interpretations. Environmental concerns became a central political issue, claiming that the expansion of cultivated area (by forest clearing) would give South American agriculture an advantage over European farmers and harm the environment This created a new link between the Mercosur negotiations and another broad and conflicting topic: climate change and sustainable development. 4, our translation), the agreement between the EU and Mercosur “has a profound geopolitical significance: it is a tool that allows both regions to better face the growing confrontation between the United States and China, in which both Latin America and the EU risk being in a position of strategic subordination.” It remains to be seen what will prevail in the end: the EU Commission’s geopolitical and geo-economic vision, or the protectionism of individual member states hidden behind lofty claims For the Spanish representative in the EU Commission and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell (2020, p. 4, our translation), the agreement between the EU and Mercosur “has a profound geopolitical significance: it is a tool that allows both regions to better face the growing confrontation between the United States and China, in which both Latin America and the EU risk being in a position of strategic subordination.” It remains to be seen what will prevail in the end: the EU Commission’s geopolitical and geo-economic vision, or the protectionism of individual member states hidden behind lofty claims

Conclusions

51. Madrid

Santiago

Findings

13. Madrid