French President Emmanuel Macron, right, welcomes his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on June 23 in Paris (AFP/Ludovic MARIN)
Mercosur heads of state meet on Monday and Tuesday in Port Iguaçu, in northeastern Argentina, without a detailed plan allowing them to respond to European concerns about the environment and thus obtain the ratification of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.
“We will soon be able to present our assessments to Mercosur members,” said the director of economic and financial affairs at Brazil’s foreign ministry, Mauricio Carvalho, tacitly acknowledging that a detailed project might not be ready for this. summit.
Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez is due to welcome, in the imposing landscape of the Iguaçu Falls, his counterparts from Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, from Paraguay, Mario Abdo, and from Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is to take over the rotating presidency of the block until the end of the year.
Lula had estimated on June 13 that “mistrust” could not guide the trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur countries, deploring the environmental demands of Europeans.
“Between strategic partners there must be mutual trust and not distrust and sanctions,” Lula said at a joint press conference in Brasilia with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“What we are asking for is a balanced agreement,” Argentine President Alberto Fernandez added the next day, also welcoming the President of the European Commission to Buenos Aires.
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, partly in due to European concerns over the environmental policies of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
The arrival of new president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has revived discussions which remain difficult.
© 2023 AFP
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