The aim of this paper is to scale the impact of changes in the patterns of international trade and Foreign Investment and how the shift in the world economic geography affects the relations between Mercosur and the European Union. The perception is that the outcome of negotiations between the two blocks is linked to the paralysis of the multilateral system and the European perspective of the economic dimension of the Agreement. The study suggests that the European Union faces conceptual and operational problems to establish clear goals and business strategies towards Mercosur and to insert them under a new global economic geography.

As negociações entre União Europeia e Mercosul com o objetivo de estabelecer uma relação estratégica birregional e um acordo comercial estão estagnadas desde 2004. Mesmo assim, o comércio vem aumentando substancialmente, e a UE consolidou-se como principal origem dos Investimentos Diretos Externos na região. Em consequência da crise financeira e econômica, está ocorrendo um refluxo das instituições multilaterais, particularmente da Organização Mundial do Comércio, impulsionando, mesmo que por motivos distintos, a reabertura das negociações entre ambos os blocos. Neste quadro, a entrada em vigor do Tratado de Lisboa introduziu modificações no design institucional europeu, que alteraram o quadro normativo no qual as negociações ocorrem.

The negotiations between the EU and Mercosul with the objective to set up a strategic bi-regional partnership and a trade agreement are stagnant since the year 2004. Even with the interruption of the negotiation process, the trade flows between the two regions have been increasing substantially, and the EU has consolidated its position as the main source of Foreign Direct Investment in the Mercosul. On the other hand, one of the consequences of the global crisis is the retrocession of the role of Multilateral Institutions, particularly the case of the World Trade Organization, which stimulate the retaking of inter-regional block negotiations. In this relative new world configuration, the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty by all the EU-members introduces changes in the European institutional design of regional integration, which have affected the normative framework of international negotiations. The aim of the present paper is to address the effects of the Lisbon Treaty on the foreign trade policy of the EU, as well as the effects on the relationships between the EU and Latin America.

Baseado no estudo de caso da União Européia e Mercosul, o objetivo deste artigo é analisar certas questões decorrentes da articulação do quadro normativo oriundo dos órgãos conjuntos de integração regional, com as ordens jurídicas nacionais baseadas no princípio da soberania do estado.

Based on the case study of European Union and the Mercosur, the purpose of the present paper is to analyze and discuss certain issues emerging from the articulation of a normative framework stemming from the join organs of integration with national juridical orderings based on the principle of state sovereignty.