Temer says he has confidence in Mercosur’s future

President Michel Temer said he does not believe that the efforts of his administration to boost Mercosur’s commercial influence will be lost under Jair Bolsonaro. In a conversation with journalists in Montevideo, the president said that overhauls in the bloc are constant and that such revisions, he said, are not meant as opposition.

President Michel Temer said he does not believe that the efforts of his administration to boost Mercosur’s commercial influence will be lost under Jair Bolsonaro. - Cesar Itiberê/PR

“I believe President Bolsonaro and his team will be able to conduct a revision of Mercosur, negotiate this revision. I reiterate it is carried out relatively often, and it is not meant as opposition to Mercosur—maybe a form of support for Mercosur, as renovation,” he told journalists today (Dec. 18) during the 53rd Summit of Heads of State of Mercosur and Associate States.

On the evening October 28, when Jair Bolsonaro’s win in the presidential race was confirmed, future Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said Mercosur would not be a priority for Brazil. However, days after Guedes’s statement, Bolsonaro noted that the change will be aimed at preventing “political bias” in talks.

Opening to other blocs

Temer praised the progress made in international negotiations with Mercosur. The president also told journalists that this came as a result of Mercosur’s being “thoroughly open,” especially with regards to the close ties between Mercosur and the Pacific Alliance, formed by Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru.

This opening to different markets, Temer went on to argue, was coupled with a similar policy adopted by Brazil. “The World Trade Organization revealed that Brazil was the country with the world’s most prominent opening to facilitated trade in 2018. It was key for our country and key for Mercosur.”

Yesterday at the Planalto presidential palace, Temer said it was impossible to take up any isolationist stance in politics or economics nowadays. “Under globalization, any isolationism of a political or economic nature would be impossible. That’s why we have continuously underscored multilateralism—the idea of universalizing our relations in every field.”