Paris – The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, assured yesterday that the new conditions imposed on Mercosur by the European Union (EU) to sign the free trade agreement between the two blocs are “unacceptable” and asked France to “resign” to its agricultural protectionist policies in order to advance intercontinental understanding.
He did so at a press conference offered in Rome and disclosed by the president’s social networks, who will begin a two-day visit to France this Thursday, with one of the focuses on resuming negotiations with President Emmanuel Macron to try to sign before end of the year the agreement between Mercosur and the EU, which was signed in 2019 but never ratified or accelerated.
“The additional letter that the European Union sent to Mercosur is unacceptable. It is unacceptable, because they punish any country that did not comply with the Paris Agreement. Nor did they comply with the Paris Agreement. The rich countries did not comply with the Paris Agreement, they did not comply with the Kyoto Protocol, they did not comply with the Copenhagen decision,” Lula said.
He referred to an annex to the agreement presented by Brussels with threats of trade sanctions against South American countries if they do not comply with environmental standards required by the EU.
Source: Ambito
