2023-06-19 20:28:00
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will travel to France to discuss the Mercosur-European Union (EU) agreement with his counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, following the “hardening” of the environmental conditions from the old continent.
“I am going to have lunch with Macron, I want to discuss the hardening of the Mercosur-European Union (EU) agreement approved by the French Parliament,” Lula said in an interview with TV Brasil.
“The EU cannot try to threaten Mercosur with sanctions if it does not comply with this or that. If we are strategic partners, you don’t have to make threats… you have to help”he added.
New failure of the Mercosur-European Union agreement
Mercosur -originally made up of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay- reached an agreement with the European Union in 2019 following more than 20 years of negotiations, but the pact was not ratifiedpartly due to concern in Europe regarding the environmental policies of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
The climate improved with the return of Lula to power in January, but new environmental demands, presented by the EU in an additional document to the agreement, tempered expectations. Lunch with President Macron is scheduled for Friday, the last day of Lula’s agenda in Europe.
The agenda
Emmanuel Macron, President of France
Also, according to AFP, Lula will participate on Thursday and Friday in Paris in the world summit that seeks to reform the architecture of global finance to better respond to the challenges of climate change.
The Brazilian president will also give a speech on Thursday regarding the environment in the concert “Power Our Planet: Live in Paris”, in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
France voted once morest the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur
In addition, on Tuesday and Wednesday he will visit Rome, Italy, where he will meet with the president, Sergio Mattarella, the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, the sociologist Domenico de Masi and with Pope Francis in the Vatican.
With Pope Lula he intends “talk regarding the question of peace (in Ukraine), and also the problem of inequality” in the world.
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