Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero was critical of the intention of the Luis Lacalle Pou government to negotiate trade agreements individually outside of Mercosur.
Cafiero gave a brief collective interview on Monday in which various Uruguayan media participated, including The Observerin which he pointed out that if Uruguay signs with China, it will have to choose whether to remain in Mercosur, because it cannot do both since it violates the consensus rule.
It seems that in Mercosur the countries are not showing all the cards… Is a rupture possible?
We think that the main thing is to defend the bloc and we understand that Uruguay is also in that position. But Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina established a position that indicates that unilateralism goes against the nature of Mercosur. It is not something subjective that has to do with positions, but something objective: the Mercosur regulations prohibit this type of action because the foundation is consensus.
This foundation is political, not legal. If we go to the legal discussion, there are institutes in Mercosur, which establish what the sanctions should be. What we are proposing is essential, if any state party determines a path other than consensus, it breaks the Mercosur rule.
What is Mercosur doing to agree on this issue? Because it comes from several years ago.
It was not only Argentina, three States told Uruguay that their path is not the correct one. What have we done to dismantle it? We have asked Uruguay to show us the feasibility studies, the documentation that supports the opportunity to generate agreements with other blocks. That has not been done, but it is not us, it is Uruguay that must present this information and it has not done so. We insist on orderly work, if there is a vocation to advance, bring the documentation to Mercosur, it is something that we must protect.
Could it be an ideological question?
Mercosur was proposed so that these prejudices do not exist and that any initiative is from the State, institutional, that can be debated regardless of whether there is ideological baggage from some other leader, the important thing is to work in a balanced way so that these agreements are achieved, that be stable.
Leonardo Carreno
Cafiero and Bustillo shared the Mercosur summit
What are the measures that can be taken against Uruguay? Uruguay says that there is no basis because there are no consummated agreements.
If indeed there is an intention of Uruguay to continue and sign that, then it will have to choose. If you sign an FTA with China, you will have to choose, they are sovereign countries.
Choose what?
If he is with Mercosur or goes with China.
Can Mercosur be broken?
You can’t do both. You cannot have an FTA with a State, you cannot advance with an FTA and belong to Mercosur, both things will not be possible.
Lula will soon take office in Brazil. Lula’s entourage says that he is interested in getting closer to China.
Alberto Fernández too, and he said it in Paraguay, but Mercosur must negotiate as a bloc, not unilaterally. We must define how we insert ourselves, what are the advantages we are getting, we have to explain these agreements to the companies, to the SMEs, to the workers of our town.
