Lula criticizes developed countries and UN, IMF and World Bank in speech in Paris

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) criticized the most developed countries in the world and multilateral institutions during a speech at the summit on the New Global Financial Pact, this Friday morning (23), in Paris.

Lula was invited by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to the event that seeks solutions for financing climate issues and helping the most needy countries. In addition to the Brazilian representative, more than 100 heads of state and government participated.

Lula’s speech began by talking about environmental issues in Brazil, such as the protection of the Amazon, the country’s energy matrix and the holding of COP30 in Belém, in 2025, and went on to a series of criticisms of what he classified as a lack of if you touch on the topic of “inequality” at a meeting like this one.

“Alongside the climate issue, we have to address the issue of world inequality. It is not possible that in a meeting between presidents of important countries the word ‘inequality’ does not appear. We have an increasingly unequal world and, more and more, wealth is concentrated in the hands of fewer people,” he said.

Lula once again demanded compliance with the Kyoto, Copenhagen and Paris climate protocols by rich countries, which he questioned whether they really implemented the measures agreed upon in the meetings, unlike Brazil, which would be fulfilling its part. “It is not fulfilled because there is no global governance with the strength to decide things and for us to comply. If each of us leaves a COP and goes back to approve things within our national state, we will not approve,” he said.

The president also criticized the functioning of institutions such as the United Nations (UN), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which, according to him, do not represent the same reality today as when they were created, in the middle of the last century. To the IMF, he took a tougher tone due to the situation in Argentina, which is currently facing difficulties in fulfilling the obligations contracted with the institution, and defended a reform in the management of financial institutions.

And he even returned to defend the creation of specific currencies for regional commercial transactions to the detriment of the dollar. “I don’t know why Brazil and Argentina or China have to trade in dollars, why we can’t trade in our currencies,” he said.

Lula, before an audience of dozens of heads of state and government and Macron himself, criticized the difficulty of implementing the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. “Trade agreements have to be fairer. I’m ‘crazy’ to make an agreement with the European Union, but it’s not possible the additional letter that was made does not allow the agreement to be made. We will do and send the answer, but we need to discuss. It is not possible that we have a strategic partnership and there is an additional letter threatening a strategic partner”, he said, criticizing the European bloc.

Lula also committed to fulfilling his campaign promise to eliminate illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030 and defended the NDB, the Banco dos Brics chaired by Dilma Rousseff (PT), as an international mechanism for financing actions in developing countries. Finally, she told Macron that she will “fight a lot” throughout her presidency of the country for the next three years.

Lula has been in Europe since Tuesday morning (20) participating in bilateral meetings in Italy and France. Among the commitments, the Brazilian president met with Pope Francis, in which he discussed issues such as Russia’s war against Ukraine; the Italian President Sergio Mattarella and the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in which he dealt with various topics, including the agreement with the European Union; and with the dictator of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and with the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa.

Still this Friday (23), the Brazilian president will have more bilateral meetings with French authorities, including a lunch with Macron; a meeting with the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo; with the president of Congo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso; and, in the evening, he will be honored with a dinner hosted by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman al Saud.