The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said on Monday that “distrust” will not be able to guide the trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Mercosur countries, deploring the environmental demands of the Europeans.
“Between strategic partners there must be mutual trust and not mistrust and sanctions,” Lula said at a joint press conference with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Mercosur, an alliance between Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, reached an agreement with the EU in 2019 after more than 20 years of negotiations, but the pact has not been ratified, in part due to European concerns over environmental policies. of former Brazilians. President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
A deal for the end of the year?
The positions changed with the return to power in January of Lula for a third term at the head of the largest economy in Latin America, but the environmental demands of the Europeans, contained in an additional document to the agreement, cooled the enthusiasm of the South American bloc.
This document “extends Brazil’s obligations and subjects them to sanctions in case of non-compliance,” he lamented. The Brazilian president criticized the European laws “that alter the balance of the agreement.” A law adopted in April, for example, prohibits the importation into Europe of products such as cocoa, coffee, timber or soybeans from deforested land.
“These initiatives represent potential restrictions on Brazil’s agricultural and industrial exports,” Lula said.
Ursula von der Leyen, for her part, was optimistic and said she hoped the agreement between the two blocs would be ratified “by the end of the year at the latest.”
Source: BFM TV
