EU–Mercosur: ‘If we don’t do it now, Brazil will not sign another agreement,’ says Lula

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva warned on Wednesday, December 17, that if the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) is not approved now, it will not be signed during his term in office.

He stated that if the treaty is not ratified at this moment, Brazil will not enter into further agreements of this kind while he remains in charge of the executive branch.

Lula’s remarks came hours after Italy joined France in calling for a postponement of the trade agreement between the two blocs, which Brazil hopes to sign during the summit scheduled for Saturday in Foz do Iguaçu, in the state of Paraná. “And I have already warned them: if we don’t do it now, Brazil will not sign any more agreements while I am president,” the president said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also said on the same day that she considered it “premature to sign the agreement in the coming days.” Lula, however, stood firm.

“So I am going to Foz do Iguaçu expecting them to say yes and not say no, but if they do say no, we will be tough with them from now on,” the president said during an annual review meeting with his ministers.

Behind-the-scenes conflict

The treaty, which has been under negotiation for more than 20 years, faces resistance from some European countries due to the potential impact on their agricultural sectors. The European Commission, for its part, hopes to complete the ratification process before Saturday.

Meanwhile, Mercosur’s full members—Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay—are ready to sign the agreement. If approved, the treaty will allow the European Union to export more products, such as vehicles, machinery, wines, and spirits, to South America, while also facilitating the entry of South American products, such as meat, sugar, rice, honey, and soybeans, into the European market.

France, however, has demanded additional measures, such as banning pesticides in Mercosur countries that are already prohibited in the EU. The Mercosur heads-of-state summit scheduled for Saturday in Foz do Iguaçu will be preceded by a meeting of foreign affairs and economy ministers in the same city, located at the tri-border area between Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

If the agreement is ratified, it will create a common market of 722 million people encompassing the countries of the European Union and Mercosur.

(With information from AFP)

Source: Exame

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