In Brussels, Lula must adopt a tough stance with Europeans on EU-Mercosur agreement requirements

Mercosur

Government sources stated that Lula will reaffirm that Brazil does not accept the terms of the “side letter” presented by the Europeans.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will adopt a tough stance with Europeans during the CELAC-European Union summit, according to Brazilian government sources. The European summit with CELAC — the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States — will take place on July 17 and 18 in Brussels.

Inaugurated in 2011, Celac is made up of 33 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Lula will reaffirm at the event that Brazil does not accept the terms of the “side letter” — a document that complements agreements — presented by the Europeans during the negotiations for ratification of the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur.

The Brazilian government repudiates what it considers to be a threatening tone in the “side letter” and is going to propose that the protection of the environment takes place within a logic of collaboration with the Europeans.

This could include, for example, joint programs for greater protection of the environment, similar to the Amazon Fund, which is financed by developed countries.

Brazil is finalizing the response it will give to the European Union and intends to circulate the document among Mercosur partners in the coming days. A joint Mercosur position will depend on the speed of response from Argentina, Paraguay and, mainly, Uruguay, which publicly shows dissatisfaction with the bloc’s direction.

Even if Mercosur does not manage to complete the joint response to the EU in time, Lula must make Brazil’s position explicit.

The Brazilian president should also take advantage of the meeting in Brussels to try to demonstrate the need for greater regional integration among all Latin American countries.

“Unacceptable proposal”

In a speech at the Mercosur summit last Tuesday (4), Lula said the European Union’s counter-proposal made in March of this year was “unacceptable”. “Strategic partners don’t negotiate based on distrust and threat of sanctions,” he said.

Lula was emphatic in stating that it was “imperative that Mercosur present a quick and forceful response”, and “it is unacceptable to give up the state’s purchasing power — one of the few instruments of industrial policy that we have left. We have no interest in agreements that condemn us to the eternal role of exporters of raw materials, ores and oil”.

Concluded in 2019, the Mercosur-European Union agreement has not yet been ratified by the two blocs.

Brazil returned to CELAC in January of this year, when Lula assumed his third term. Then-president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) had broken with the bloc in 2020, due to ideological differences with Cuba and Venezuela.

*With information from CNN Brazil

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