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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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CurrentandFutureCooperationundertheEUMERCOSURAgreement 21 processiscomplicatedanddifficult.Recently EUsupporttoFOCEMandthe MERCOSURtribunalhadtobedecommittedduetoMERCOSURswithdrawal fromcertainprojects. Theideaofauthenticintegrationsecretariatswithindependentcivilservants hasnottakenhold.Asecretariatwithjustahandfulofhigherofficials 30staff altogetherandabudgetofonlyUSD1million asinMERCOSUR issimplynot capableofpromotingintegration.Atbest itcanprovidetechnicalassistancefor intergovernmentalprocedures.EUcooperationwith MERCOSURinstitutions andplayers aswellasstandardsettingiswelcome.TheEU hasaroleas tentative externalfederator .Sincetheearly1990s theEUhasbeenalong termandimportantsourceforthestafftrainingofallLatinAmericanintegration schemes including MERCOSURsprotemporepresidencies itsembryonic Parliamentandthejointparliamentarycommittee aswellasthePermanent Review Tribunal.The EU has helpedto modernisecustoms procedures statisticsandsanitaryandphytosanitarystandards amongotherthings.Thisis somewhatastonishinginrelationtocountries mostlyinthe middleincome category whicharesoproudoftheir sovereignty .Theoutcomeofthe2010 midtermreviewprocessremainstobeseen. 5.犈犝犕犈犚犆犗犛犝犚 犠犺犻犮犺犠犪狔犃犺犲犪犱 Askedwhethertheygive MERCOSURandbiregionalnegotiationsmuch chance someanswerwiththeBavariansaying: Idswear butIdneverbeton it TheEUisunlikelytosharethedesperationoftheParaguayanForeign Ministerthatthegroupisina terminalstate OEstadodeSoPaolo 24.7. 2009 .Nevertheless anumberofquestionswereasked.Forexample whether agreementsshouldbepursuedeveniftheyhadbeendesignedunderdifferent circumstances Also shouldtheEUoptforsomethingwhichopensuprelations moreorsettleforsomething morespecific but more modest Whatif negotiationsdonotresume TheEUclearlyfavoursregionalintegrationandthus biregionalnegotiations andwillcertainlynotwishtobeseenasthepartyresponsible forscuttlingintegrationschemesbysinglingoutindividualcountries.ButtheEU cannotimposeitsfavouredapproachandthereforeisnolongerfundamentalistonthe issue.ThiswasillustratedwhentheEUovercameBoliviasobstructionofAndean negotiationswiththeEU.Furthermore theEUproceededwiththosewhowishedto continue butleftthedooropenforotherstojoinlater.Inthisway theEUrespects thesovereignwillofboththewillingandthereluctant. Anumberofsuggestionsmadeinthiscontextseemtoberatherpremature suchasthefusion of MERCOSUR andthe Andean Communityorrapid