Mistrust and sanctions, Lula questions Von der Leyen about the agreement between the EU and Mercosur

The President of Brazil is concerned about the “distrust” that may exist at the base of the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized the modifications that the European bloc made to the document, since, according to him, they could represent “sanctions if they are not complied with.”

The agreement, which has been suspended since 2019 and which aims to gather sustainability and climate change commitments, involves Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

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.

“The premise between the partners must be mutual trust, not mistrust,” said the Brazilian president at a joint press conference, referring to the obligations imposed by the bloc of 27 to sign the agreement.

Specifically, Lula has criticized the points related to the sale of European goods and services destined for public administrations in Latin America.

For Carlos Verissimo, foreign policy analyst, who spoke with France 24the agreement places obligations on the countries of the Southern Cone that they may not be able to comply with and that seems to benefit one of the parties more than the other.

Today the four members of Mercosur receive a letter from the EU, which ultimately means a unilateral communication, that is, it is not negotiated, where an attempt is made in some way to talk about the certificates of origin, geographic, environmental and even DNA by exporters, which has made Brazil slacken in its willingness to go ahead with this and Argentina has complained a lot with the patent system that is required of it, Verissimo explained.

On the other side, the president of the european commission He assures that with the recent changes it is possible to reach common ground in an agreement that has been discussed for decades. “PWe believe that it is time to conclude the agreement between the EU and Mercosur. We have the ambition to do it as soon as possible, at the latest by the end of the year,” Von der Leyen said.

To reach this goal, analysts still see an uncertain outlook. And they assure that there is a lot to negotiate.

“It would seem that all this is going to take much longer than you think, especially because the European Union places a lot of emphasis on what it called ‘The Green Pact’, which Brazil will not be able to comply with and I think Argentina will not be able to comply either” , Verissimo told France 24.

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Time trial negotiations

Earlier this month, Lula said his country would not sign the agreement if changes it had demanded in the past were not made, citing the sale of European companies in the public sector. The meeting on Monday did not give the president a piece of peace of mind, instead, he added concerns about possible sanctions.

The visit of the European leader also puts pressure on an agenda that must take place quickly, since von der Leyen’s talks with the presidents of Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico prepare the ground for the EU meeting with 30 leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean at a summit in Brussels. The meeting is scheduled for July 17 and 18.

But before that, the negotiators of the EU and Mercosur must meet in Buenos Aires to present a counter part of the document in which the differences are expected to be dissipated.

At those meetings scheduled for June 29-30, Brazil hopes to remove any possibility of sanctions, arguing that the Paris climate agreement sets voluntary targets. For his part, an official from Brasilia confirmed that there will be meetings prior to said date with the Mercosur countries to establish a “joint position” and come to the table as a united bloc.

“Before the meeting with the Europeans, there will be an intra-Mercosur meeting to coordinate positions,” a Brazilian government official told Reuters.

In his Twitter account, Lula highlighted the commercial relationship between his country and the bloc of 27, recalled that it is the first visit by an EU chief executive in 10 years and outlined the financial objectives of the first economy of Latin America with the European Community Alliance.

“The European Union is Brazil’s second largest trading partner and our trade flow could exceed the 100 billion dollar mark this year. Brazil also stands out as the largest destination for Foreign Direct Investment of the countries of the European Union in Latin America, which is concentrated in the manufacturing, digital infrastructure and services sectors,” the published statement read.

In addition to strengthening ties with the region, the European Union continues its search for strategic partners that provide it with sources of trade in essential minerals for the green transition it projects.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, the bloc’s leaders have also stepped up efforts to reduce their dependence on China and Russia for energy and trade. The 27 seek to accelerate projects with an environmental focus and have seen great potential in Latin America.

Investment of the European Union in the Amazon

“Europe is your partner and we have a responsibility to stop deforestation,” the president of the European Commission said in a statement after announcing a package of 20 million euros for the Amazon Fund.

Said fund, created in 2008 and paused in 2019 by former President Jair Bolsonaro, seeks to fight against the devastation of the forest and aims to promote the sustainable use of land in the biome. With the coming to power, Lula reactivated it and other countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States have joined those already belonging: Norway and Germany.

A report released this Monday, June 12, by the scientific platform Map Biomas ensures that in 2022, 11,926 square kilometers of jungle were destroyed in the Brazilian Amazon, a figure that is similar to the total area of ​​the size of Qatar and that is equivalent to 58% of all deforested vegetation in the country.

In another of its calculations, Map Biomas stated that the Brazilian Amazon lost an average of 21 trees per second in 2022 and the document states that actions to stop these effects “must be activated immediately.”

With Reuters and EFE