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Brexit threatens EU-Mercosur free trade deal, says Uruguayan president

Xinhua, June 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez said Friday that the UK's departure from the EU will make it more difficult for the bloc to sign a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Mercosur, the common Market of the South.

"We will continue working but this does complicate negotiations for an FTA between Mercosur and the EU," he said at a cabinet meeting Friday morning, where Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa confirmed that the two commissions working toward the FTA will continue their scheduled meetings.

The president said the European Union delegation had shown "preoccupation" for a possible British exit, which turned into reality in the Thursday referendum.

Britain has voted to leave the European Union, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and sending shockwaves across through the country and around the world on Friday.

For Nin Novoa, the result of the referendum could "distract" such negotiations, "as the Europeans have many problems and this adds another."

Negotiations between the EU and South America's trade Bloc Mercosur on an FTA was initiated in 1999 and resumed in 2010 after six years of hiccup. Endit