Lula again criticizes Europeans for impositions on the Mercosur agreement

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said, this Tuesday morning (4), that the current conditions imposed by the European Union to close the trade agreement with Mercosur are like a “sword in the head” of “impositions” and “ punishments”. The statements were given during the weekly live “Conversation with the President”, which had peaks of up to 3,800 people watching simultaneously.

The agreement with the Europeans was the main theme of this week’s broadcast, held in the Argentine city of Puerto Iguazu, close to the border with Brazil, where the Mercosur Summit is being held, in which Lula assumes the rotating presidency until the end of the year.

During the live, Lula harshly criticized the impositions that the European Union has been making to the agreement negotiated since 1999, but stopped since 2020 by impositions on the sale in the European market of products supposedly coming from deforested areas – an allegation classified by specialists as “protectionist”. – and giving preference to government purchases from commercial partners rather than national companies.

“They want, for example, that we give up government purchases, what the government buys from Brazilian companies. If we give up Brazilian companies to buy from foreign companies, we will simply kill small and medium-sized companies and entrepreneurs and many jobs, ”he said.

Lula also questioned the conditions imposed based on what would be environmental requirements, pointing out that not even the European countries themselves comply with the agreements signed at climate conferences, such as Kyoto and Copenhagen, among others.

Response to Europeans

The president stated that the deliberative meeting to be held this Tuesday (4th) with the heads of state of the other Mercosur member countries – Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, as well as associates such as Colombia, Bolivia and Chile – will close a letter of response to the conditions imposed by the Europeans to send to Brussels, and which intends to finalize the agreement while occupying the rotating presidency, until the end of the year.

“We want to discuss the agreement, we don’t want to impose it on us. It’s an agreement of companions, of strategic partners, no putting a sword on the other’s head. You cannot accept that a partner can impose conditions and punish,” he added.

Still this Tuesday (4), right after the Mercosur meeting, Lula will go to Foz do Iguaçu to sign a protocol of intentions with the administration of Itaipu Binacional, the Ministry of Education and the Federal University of Latin American Integration (Unila) to resume work from the institution’s campus, in the area of ​​the plant.

Also during the live, Lula mentioned that he will go to Colombia on Saturday (8) to participate in the meeting organized by the country’s government as a preparation for the summit meeting of the eight member countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), scheduled for the 8th of August, in Belém. The weekend meeting will be held in the Colombian city of Leticia.

In addition to commenting on the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, Lula spoke, during the live, of the legislation he sanctioned this week, such as equal pay between men and women, protection for pregnant sportswomen and the harassment law.