(5 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Montevideo, Uruguay – 5 December 2024
1. Various of Uruguay’s presidential building
2. Various of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arriving for meeting with Uruguay President Luis Lacalle Pou
URUGUAY PRESIDENCY
Montevideo, Uruguay – 5 December 2024
++MUTE++
3. Various of Von der Leyen meeting Lacalle Pou ++MUTE++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Montevideo, Uruguay – 5 December 2024
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Omar Paganini, Uruguay Foreign Minister:
"We see it as something very positive. We are in the final, final stages. I hope the leaders tomorrow can give the final decision on whether to agree on a text. The text is practically ready, with some minimal details. So we hope we can give good news tomorrow. There will be an early meeting of the presidents of Mercosur with Ursula von der Leyen and then there could be the final announcement. But we are very happy with the advances we are making."
5. Von der Leyen leaving after meeting
6. Von der Leyen leaving in a car
STORYLINE:
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Uruguay President Luis Lacalle Pou on Thursday after arriving in the South American country for the final stages in years-long negotiations to clinch a trade deal between the EU and the South American Mercosur trade bloc.
"We see it as something very positive," said Uruguay Foreign Minister, Omar Paganini, who also attended the meeting.
"We are in the final, final stages. I hope the leaders tomorrow can give the final decision on whether to agree on a text."
As officials try to finalise a deal, French President Emmanuel Macron, mindful of his country’s vocal and politically powerful farming community, has described what was on the table as “unacceptable.”
If the deal with the South American bloc — comprising of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia — goes ahead, EU producers would have to compete with South American agricultural exports such as beef, poultry and sugar.
Because the EU Commission negotiates trade agreements for all 27 member states, von der Leyen could go ahead with a provisional deal this weekend at the Mercosur summit in Uruguay, only to see it flounder because one or more members states refuse to sign up to it.
A draft deal was announced in 2019, but disagreements over environmental, economic and political issues have delaying its final approval until now.
If the final differences are bridged, the EU-Mercosur deal would encompass an economic area covering almost a quarter of global GDP. It would center on reducing tariffs and trade barriers and make it easier for businesses on both sides to export goods.
AP video shot by Diego Casal
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