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The president of Brazil had questioned his attendance at the EU-Celac summit, which in both blocks has already been considered an opportunity to try to give a new “political impetus” to the agreement with Mercosur, just when both leaders hold the respective protempore presidencies of their community blocs.
A phone call from the two key players in the long novel between Mercosur and the European Union.
The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, held a telephone call on Wednesday in which they were able to discuss their plans to ensure that the trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur can finish this year.
Prior to the call, Lula maintained that Mercosur “needs to conclude the agreement” with the EU, because according to him, “there are no more explanations for so many years waiting.”
And it is that the agreement has been negotiated for almost a quarter of a century and despite the fact that a political agreement was reached in 2019, it has not yet entered into force due to the constant modifications that have prevented the parties from reaching an agreement.
According to an official document from the Brazilian Planalto Palace, released this Wednesday, July 5, the conversation also confirmed the attendance of the president of the South American country at the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union.
“President Sánchez reiterated the invitation to President Lula to participate in the inaugural session of the CELAC-European Union Summit next July in Brussels. The Summit has not been held since 2015. President Lula accepted the invitation”, read in the statement.
And it is that Lula had questioned his attendance at the summit, but now he intends to take advantage of the fact that both he and Sánchez have with the respective protempore presidencies of their community blocs to give a “political boost” to the trade agreement.
“Sánchez also spoke about the Business Forum, scheduled for the 17th, and invited President Lula to celebrate the opening of the event with him (Sánchez) and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen”, the paragraphs read. additional from Planalto article.
The obstacles of the agreement
The main obstacles to the text agreed upon in 2019 by both blocs are due to Mercosur’s refusal to accept an annex document presented this year by the EU, which establishes new guarantees in environmental matters.
In its most recent demands, the European bloc defined the lines that Latin American countries must follow to limit climate impact. One of these is the deforestation of the Amazon, an issue that worries the EU and that directly affects the Latin American giant, Brazil.
That document was considered by Lula as a “threat” to Mercosur agricultural producers, a bloc that, according to the president, is working on a “forceful” response to level the balance.
Another of the complications was revealed this Tuesday at the Mercosur semi-annual summit in Argentina, because there The Uruguayan president, Luis Lacalle Pou, expressed his “pessimism” about the agreement with the EU and regretted that it has been discussed for “25 years”, something that he considered “not logical in the modern world”.
Lacalle expressed his concern about Mercosur’s lack of flexibility and said that if it is not possible to work together, Uruguay would seek an agreement independently.
“The pitcher goes to the fountain so much that in the end it breaks. We are going to insist on carrying the pitcher because Uruguay’s approach to entering and leaving Mercosur is not capricious,” said Lacalle Pou, who also added that the Latin American countries “do not we are fools, it is better to go together”, but “the immobility is what worries us”, he pointed out.
Mercosur, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay it must now prepare a counter-proposal to submit to the EU so that it can continue with technical negotiations.
with PA
