Mercosur: Lula again criticizes agreement with the European Union – 07/04/2023 – Market

President Lula (PT) said this Tuesday (4th) that the European Union’s letter on an agreement with Mercosur is “unacceptable” and said that it is necessary to establish a relationship of equality in the partnership between the two economic blocs.

“No strategic partner puts a sword to the other’s head,” he said. He said that European countries never comply with international agreements and cited the Kyoto, Paris and Rio de Janeiro protocols as an example.

“The letter was unacceptable and is unacceptable. You can’t imagine that your commercial partner is going to set conditions: ‘if you don’t do that, I’ll punish you’. It turns out that a European country does not comply with any agreement”, he said.

Lula had already made the same complaint on a trip to France. He complained about the additional term — known as a “side letter”—, which was introduced by the European bloc and seeks to make some environmental commitments mandatory.

“It is not possible that there is an additional letter threatening a strategic partner,” he said. “I’m dying to make an agreement with the European Union. The additional letter that was made by the European Union is not possible. We will send a response, but we need to start discussing”, said the PT on June 23.