At their regional Summit, Mercosur members agreed to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement with the European Union. The issue has sparked controversy regarding EU demands made in previous attempts to strike a deal, but members decided that the time has come to exchange lists of proposals and initiate negotiations once again. In the words of Mercosur President Tabare Vazquez of Uruguay, “In order not to be victims of the future, we must be protagonists of the present.” teleSUR