Brasilia (AFP)

The 55th Mercosur Summit kicks off Wednesday for two days in southern Brazil, in a context of ideological reshuffling of the bloc countries and tensions between Brazil's far-right president Jair Bolsonaro and Argentina's Peronist left Alberto Fernandez who will take office next week.

This presidential meeting of the block (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), which takes place on Wednesday and Thursday in Bento Gonçalves (Rio Grande do Sul), is the last to be attended by outgoing Argentinian President Mauricio Macri (center right), whose Bolsonaro had supported the candidacy for a second term.

Bolsonaro, who already has an ally with Paraguay and its president Mario Abdo Benítez, should also turn to Uruguay where Luis Lacalle Pou (center right) who has just been elected, will take office next March, putting thus ending fifteen years of left-wing governments.

At the top of Bento Gonçalves, Uruguay's Vice President Lucía Topolansky will represent outgoing President Tabaré Vázquez, absent for health reasons.

The bloc's ideological reorganization is part of political and social upheaval in South America and is expected to have repercussions on the process of ratification of the June Free Trade Agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. on discussions with other countries.

- Obvious enmity -

No date has yet been set for the first meeting between MM. Bolsonaro and Fernandez and their apparent enmity worries the business community, given the interdependence of both economies.

Brazil is Argentina's largest trading partner and Argentina is the third largest in Brazil (behind China and the United States), but also the largest importer of its industrial products.

Bolsonaro refrained from congratulating his Argentinean counterpart and will not attend his inauguration on December 10, dissatisfied with the Peronists' campaign for the release of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, imprisoned for corruption until early November.

Fearing that Mr. Fernández, heir to a serious economic crisis, is adopting protectionist policies, the government of Mr. Bolsonaro has even threatened to leave Mercosur. Both, however, committed last week to maintain a "pragmatic" relationship.

"We still do not know whether the Brazilian government really intends to leave Mercosur or whether its statements are a way to put pressure on Argentina to adopt a more liberal stance on international trade." commented Mauricio Santoro, expert in international relations at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).

The recent announcement by US President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina has placed the two countries in the same bag, to the chagrin of Brazilians, who are ambitious to become Washington's strategic allies.

This decision "should bring Brazil and Argentina together." The tensions are not to their advantage, "said AFP Rubens Barbosa, president of the Institute of International Relations and Foreign Trade (Irice).

"We will see if this can be settled at the Mercosur meeting," he added.

At the summit, the four countries will sign a border police cooperation agreement to prosecute fugitive criminals. They will also discuss the reduction of the Common External Tariff (CET) or the increase in the rate of imports from third countries, - by 13% and 14% on average.

© 2019 AFP