(EU) and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR)? - FDCL

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10 1.1 Negotiations of the “Interregional Association Agreement” between the EU and MERCOSUR After having signed a treaty of inter-institutional cooperation in May of 1992, MERCOSUR and the EU sealed an Interregional Framework Cooperation Agreement on the opening of negotiations for a free trade agreement between both regions in 1995. The negotiation modalities had been agreed upon at the Summit of the Heads of State from the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean in June of 1999 in Rio de Janeiro. As a result, since the end of 1999 the EU and MERCOSUR have been meeting at semi-annual sessions of the Bi-regional Negotiations Committee (BNC) to negotiate the establishment of an interregional association agreement. The negotiations formally follow the so-called principle of “single undertaking”: “Nothing is decided until everything is resolved.” The main issues of these negotiations are “political dialogue” and “cooperation”, as well as the mutual “liberalization” of trade of goods and services: “[A] political dialogue, a co-operation pillar and a trade chapter [...,] the main objective of the 1995 Framework Agreement is the preparation of negotiations on an Interregional Association Agreement between the EU and MERCOSUR, which should include a liberalization of all trade in goods and services, aiming at free trade, in conformity with WTO rules”. 1 Starting in 2005 a joint free trade area is planned to be gradually introduced. Parallel to these negotiations between the EU and MERCOSUR the American countries are negotiating the establishment of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA/ALCA/ZLEA). At the Summit of the Americas in Miami in 1994, 34 American heads of state (with the exception of Cuba) had accorded to create the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Negotiations there should formally follow the principles of “consensus”, “transparency”, “consistency with WTO-rules” and “single undertaking”, to ensure that bilateral and sub-regional agreements remain unimpaired and so that “special attention will be given to the needs of the smaller economies”. 2 Negotiations should conclude by 2005 and the Free Trade Area of the Americas with 780 million potential consumers should be in force by the end of 2005. At the VIIIth Conference of Ministers of the FTAA negotiation process in Miami from November 20-21, 2003, the principle of single undertaking was addressed, so that at first only those areas 1 http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/MERCOSUR/intro. 2 http://www.ftaa-alca.org/View_e.asp.
would be discussed, to which every potential membership candidate was willing to grant unrestricted market access. This, according to the majority of the international press, would constitute a pioneer innovation and consequently the concept could be described in terms of a FTAA light, or even a FTAA à la carte. But this view is to some extent short-sighted, since the most controversial issues, like investment and public procurement policy, have not been erased from the agenda of negotiations, but have been merely temporarily postponed. 3 At the same time negotiations within the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the worldwide liberalization of markets is under way. The Fourth Round of Ministers, the highest decision-making body of the WTO, at their meeting in Doha, Qatar in November of 2001, had decided on the topics of the new world trade round (Qatar Round). The main topics of the Doha-Agenda, which officially functions under the title “Doha-Development-Round”, are the liberalization of trade of goods and services and investment, as well as intellectual property rights. 4 The proposed objectives of these multilateral negotiations are free market access, while taking into account the WTO principles of the National Treatment (NT) and the Most Favored Nation Clause (MFN). These “non-discrimination” rules of the WTO define National Treatment as equal market access opportunities for national as well as international suppliers, which cannot be restricted by local, regional or national law. Most Favored Nation Clause means that all trade-related advantages, which are granted to a WTO-member country have to be granted to all other members as well. According to the original schedule the Doha-Agenda should be passed in 2005. But after the “failure” in Cancún and due to the existing divergences, which could not be resolved at the WTO December meeting in Geneva, the original timetable has gone a bit off course, or is, so to say, temporarily broken off. Given these circumstances, the focus of attention has once again been placed on bilateral negotiation levels, which of course include the negotiation process between the EU and MERCOSUR. After negotiations began between MERCOSUR and the EU at the end of 1999, new points were set within the framework of “political dialogue” and “cooperation” at the IInd Summit of Heads of State of Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe in Madrid in May 2002. The final political discussions on the free trade agreement are anticipated to take place by the heads of state at the IIIrd Summit in Guadalajara/ Mexico from May 28-29, 2004. Based on the renewed offers to negotiate the mutual “liberalization” of markets and market access, which are planned for April 15, 2004, the agreement could be signed by October 2004. 3 This view is also reflected by the analysis of the Hemispheric Social Alliance - Alianza Social Continental - Aliança Social Continental at http://www.asc-hsa.org, or also the Rede Brasileira pela Integração dos Povos (Rebrip) at: http://www.rebrip.org.br. 4 http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/dda_e.htm. 11
Page 2 and 3: Christian Russau Enforcement of int
Page 4 and 5: Preface Since the end of 1999 the C
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60 zations and liberalization in La
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62 the profitability, on the electr
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64 America. Also the issue of human
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66 • Thirdly the WTO Dispute Sett
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68 to the U.S. trade power by rapid
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70 The largest trade balance defici
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72 OECD area by European companies.
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74 EDF, has issued a similar compla
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76 European automobile producers in
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78 But not only international law o
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80 ment,” which in the beginning
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82 4. 1 The free trade agreement be
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84 issues for us.” 233 On the oth
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86 capital flows” explicitly. The
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88 which also speaks out against th
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90 in Congress and encouraged the B
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92 studies in 2003 on the impact of
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94 The MEBF successfully works as a
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96 “We have tried to explain how
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98 4.2 The example of Brazil: Forei
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100 Brazilian Constitution. This wo
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102 countries through CC-5 accounts
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104 4.3 Brazil, foreign direct inve
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106 “Commercial Presence: The jur
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108 Providing cheaper access to wat
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110
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112 5.1 Foreign direct investment i
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114 The agreement on government pro
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116 5.2 The case of Chile: Foreign
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118 which was believed to be dead,
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120 c) The still pending Doha “De
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122 gesamtamerikanischen Freihandel
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124 · http://europa.eu.int/comm/co
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126 · http://www.citizen.org/ · h
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128 · http://www.rebrip.org.br ·
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130 um den Markt der wiederentdeckt
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132 · Torrent, Ramón: Acordos Int
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134 DIHK Deutscher Industrie- und H
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136 Lomé Lomé-Agreement between E
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(EU) and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR)? - FDCL

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