EU and Mercosur vis a vis the Trade Agreement. Remarks from the institutional perspective
| Autor | Isabella Querci |
| Cargo | Doctor in International and European Union Law, at Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy |
| Páginas | 63-80 |
ABSTRACT
The member States of Mercosur are currently
negotiating a Trade Agreement with the EU,
as part of the process towards a comprehensive
bi-regional Association Agreement. In 2016,
the EU and Mercosur members exchanged
offers, followed by a negotiation round. The
next round will be held in October 2017; while
awaiting for political developments, it is worth
anticipating some challenges to come, espe-
cially from a legal perspective. Both actors have
a multilayered system for decision-making,
requiring the consensus of a multiplicity of
governmental actors and thus enabling them
to convey. Furthermore, current dialogues
consider a broad range of issues, which were
also covered by different EU’s agreements with
other trading partners. These agreements re-
ceived critiques from the civil society, which
are worth to reflect upon, considering that the
trade agreement is due to impact the general
negotiation for the bi-regional Association
Agreement. The paper develops this reflec-
tion from a twofold perspective: that of the
institutional nature of EU and Mercosur and
that of the democratic deficit in the overall
negotiation process.
Key words: European Union, Mercosur,
trade agreement, institutions, wto, statehood,
civil society.
EU and Mercosur vis a vis the Trade
Agreement. Remarks from
the institutional perspective
Isabella Querci*
* Doctor in International and European Union Law, at Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy. International Rela-
tions Officer - EU Project Manager presso. Università degli Studi di Genova, (Italia). [Isabella.querci@unige.it].
My greatest gratitude goes to the colleague and friend Dr. Carlos Alberto Chichilla Imbett, hoping that this project
will be the first of many others to come. Every error remains my own.
Recibido: 20 de marzo de 2017 / Modificado: 4 de agosto de 2017 / Aceptado: 14 de septiembre de 2017
Para citar este artículo:
Querci, I. (2017). EU and Mercosur vis a vis the Trade Agreement. Remarks from the institutional perspective. OASIS,
26, 63-80.
doi: https://doi.org/10.18601/16577558.n26.05
Isabella Querci
64
OASIS, No 26 • Julio-Diciembre 2017 • pp. 63-80
Unión Europea y Mercosur vis
a vis el Tratado de Comercio.
Observaciones desde
la perspectiva institucional
RESUMEN
Los Estados miembros de Mercosur están ac-
tualmente negociando un acuerdo comercial
con la Unión Europea, como parte del proce-
so hacia la integración comercial birregional.
En 2016, la Unión Europea y el Mercosur
intercambiaron ofertas, luego de unas rondas
de negociación. La siguiente cita es en 2017,
mientras que se esperan algunos cambios po-
líticos, en especial, desde la perspectiva legal.
Además, ambos actores tienen que agotar un
número de etapas para la toma de decisiones,
entre las cuales se encuentra el consenso de
los actores gubernamentales y la determina-
ción de sus competencias. Ahora, los diálogos
actuales requieren resolver una amplia gama
de cuestiones que estaban ya debatidas por
distintos acuerdos firmados por la Unión
Europea con otros socios comerciales. Tales
acuerdos deberían ser tenidos en cuenta en el
proceso de negociación entre la Unión Europea
y Mercosur. El presente artículo desarrolla esta
última reflexión desde dos puntos de vista: por
una parte, el carácter institucional de la Unión
Europea y el Mercosur; por otra, el déficit de-
mocrático en el proceso general de negociación
entre los actores.
Palabras clave: Unión Europea, Mercosur,
acuerdo comercial, instituciones, omc, Estado,
sociedad civil.
THE EU MERCOSUR INSTITUTIONAL
RELATIONSHIP IN TRADE
Since 1995, Mercosur-EU relations have
been guided by the Framework Cooperation
Agreement, signed on 15 December 1995
and fully in force as of 1 July 19991. In ad-
dition, some individual Mercosur countries
(more specifically, Paraguay2, Uruguay3 and
Argentina4) have in place bilateral Framework
Cooperation Agreements with the EU, which
also establish a structure for dealing with trade-
related matters.
The objective of these instruments was
to create a framework for negotiations on an
1 Interregional Framework Cooperation Agreement between the European Community and its Member States,
of the one part, and the Southern Common Market and its Party States, of the other part. Signed on December 15th,
1995 and entered into force on July 1st 1999. OJ L69, 19/03/1996, p. 4.
2 Framework Agreement for cooperation between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Para-
guay, entered into force on 30th October 1992.
3 Framework Agreement for cooperation between the European Economic Community and the Eastern Republic
of Uruguay - Exchange of Letters Signed on November the 4th 1991 and entered into force on January 1st 1994. OJ
L94, 08/04/1992, p. 2.
4 Framework Agreement for trade and economic cooperation between the European Economic Community and
the Argentine Republic - Exchange of Letters, OJ L 295, 26.10.1990, p. 67-73.
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