BRASILIA, Brazil - Representatives from the European Union and South America's Mercosur customs union began Monday the first in a series of talks intended to overcome obstacles blocking a proposed free trade agreement.
The meeting, which ends Wednesday, is the first of four aimed at reviving stalled talks that began in 1999 with the idea of increasing trade between the European Union and Mercosur, made up of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The proposed agreement reached an impasse at May's EU-Mercosur summit in Madrid over the issue of the high tariffs the EU maintains on agricultural goods and large subsidies it pays to farmers.
Top officials from the EU and Mercosur met in Rio last July to try to break the logjam, but only came away with a plan for further talks.
Monday's talks would focus on norms, regulations and procedures for evaluating compliance, competitiveness, intellectual property and tariffs, among other things, Brazil's Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
Last year, the 15-nation EU proposed both blocs eliminate all tariffs on industrial goods within 10 years. But the South Americans complained about Europe's willingness to reduce tariffs only partially on agricultural goods, such as meat, chicken and sugar.
Complicating matters are economic problems within Mercosur. Weakening currencies across the bloc make them potentially less attractive as markets, and at the same time raise fears that cheaper goods from Mercosur could easily flood Europe.
In 2000, Mercosur members exported goods worth 100.9 billion euros (US$102.3 billion) to EU countries and imported goods worth 93.3 billion euros (US$94.6 billion) from there, according to the EU's Eurostat institute.
Brazil alone, which accounts for two-thirds of Mercosur in economic terms, exported goods worth US$58.2 billion to the EU in 2001 and imported goods worth US$55.6 billion, according to Brazil's Development and Trade Ministry. Trade between the EU and Brazil has more than doubled since 1992.
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