Uruguay Leads EU‑Mercosur Summit as Quota Dispute Takes Center Stage

Heads of state from the Mercosur bloc will meet in Asunción on June 30, where Paraguay will hand over its six‑month presidency to Uruguay. The agenda is dominated by the distribution of export quotas under the EU‑Mercosur trade agreement, which entered its commercial chapter provisionally on May 1 after more than 25 years of talks.

Member states disagree on how to allocate the most sensitive beef quota, as well as poultry, sugar, honey and rice. Uruguay and Argentina favour a split based on average exports to the EU, Paraguay demands an equal 25 % share for each member, and Brazil proposes allocation according to each country's share of world trade. A preliminary deal on the beef quota (99,000 tons after a five‑year phase‑in) is said to exist among Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, but it lacks binding legal form.

Uruguay aims to finalise a transitional agreement by the end of September, followed by a definitive binding instrument. The summit will also address the structural convergence fund budget, pending free‑trade talks with Canada and Japan, the bloc’s stance on Bolivia’s political crisis, and possible enlargement, with presidents of Chile, Panama and Ecuador attending as associated states.