Lula arrives in Belgium to convince European leaders to sign the Mercosur agreement – 07/16/2023 – Market

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) arrived at around 4 pm (11 am in Brasília) this Sunday (16) in Brussels, Belgium, where he will participate in the third Celac-UE summit, or EU-Celac, as Europeans prefer .

The meeting, which runs through Monday and Tuesday, will receive leaders from 60 countries, 33 from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and 27 from European Union countries.

Discussions are scheduled to strengthen the trade partnership between the countries, discuss working together to achieve just ecological and digital transitions, and demonstrate a shared commitment to upholding the international order.

But Lula has an extra mission at the event: to convince European politicians to sign the latest details of the Mercosur agreement with the European Union, which is currently bumping into disagreements in the environmental area.

The agreement is not part of the summit’s agenda. But what is expected is the political commitment that it be finalized by the end of the year, since in 2024 there will be elections in the European Parliament and the deputies will have other immediate concerns.

In March, the EU forwarded a document with the latest details, but Brazil rejected it and produced a new text. This Brazilian counterproposal was shared with the other Mercosur nations only last Friday (14th) and, once approved by the other members of the bloc, will be forwarded to the European Union.

Lula’s first agenda in the third Celac-UE will probably be the most important. At 9 am this Monday, he will meet with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the expectation is that Mercosur will be the subject of the meeting. Afterwards, the president will participate in the opening of the event’s business forum.

Before lunch, Lula will have two more bilateral meetings, the first with the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, and the second with King Filipe of Belgium alongside the Prime Minister of the country, Alexander de Croo.

At 3 pm, Lula will meet with the president of the European Parliament and, one hour later, he will attend the official opening session of the summit. At 7 pm, he attends a reception followed by a gala dinner.

On Tuesday, four events are scheduled. The first is a breakfast with progressive party leaders. At 9:30 am, there will be a summit plenary session and, at 10:30 am, a bilateral session with Sweden. Finally, at 3:15 pm, Lula will meet with the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen.

For 8:30 am on Wednesday (19), the only official interview that President Lula will give to journalists in Belgian lands is scheduled.

Officially negotiated since 1999, the general agreement between the EU and Mercosur was concluded in 2019, but has not yet been ratified. The final negotiations have come up against disagreements in the environmental area. This is a central point in current EU politics and economics, which has been, for example, approving laws to prevent EU countries from buying products from deforestation in the Amazon and other tropical forests.