Montevideo, (EFE).- Uruguay’s House of Representatives approved the EU-Mercosur agreement on Thursday, formally ratifying it, the first South American country to do so.
The vote came one day after the agreement received the go-ahead from the Chamber of Senators.
Shortly after a session that began at 12:15 local time in Montevideo and following speeches from two deputies.
91 out of 93 legislators gave the agreement the green light. The governing Broad Front coalition (Frente Amplio) and the opposition parties (National Party, Colorado Party, Cabildo Abierto, and Independent Party) supported it, while Sovereign Identity (Identidad Soberana) voted against it.
Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin celebrated the move and stated in a press conference hat this «closes a phase that took more than two decades» of negotiations.
«We stop and think about how many people, how many Uruguayans, how many technical experts, how many figures, how many women and how many men went through these 25 years that culminated today. Therefore: a tribute to them,» he celebrated.
«We assumed our responsibility and we fulfilled it. In a few hours, if everything goes in the right direction, our Argentine brothers will also vote in Parliament. Yesterday, the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil voted in favor, and the Brazilian Senate will vote soon, and Paraguay will vote in March,» the foreign minister detailed.
Mercosur and the EU signed the historic agreement on Saturday, Jan. 17, after 25 years of negotiations.
The negotiations concluded on Dec. 6, 2024, during a Mercosur summit in Montevideo attended by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.
Argentina’s Senate is also expected to debate the agreement on Thursday, which, according to the EU, «creates an integrated economic area of more than 700 million people, representing around 30% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product and about 35% of global trade.»
Meanwhile, Brazil approved the agreement in its Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday, and it will be reviewed by the Senate in the coming days. The government of Paraguay has submitted the agreement to its Parliament, where it must be processed for ratification.
The European Parliament is awaiting a ruling from the EU Court of Justice on the legality of the agreement. However, the European Commission (EC) could decide to provisionally implement the agreement without waiting for the European Parliament’s approval. EFE
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