President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated, this Wednesday (27), that the signing of the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) could take place this year. In the midst of boycott of South American products by Carrefour in France and attacks by parliamentarians from the European country on Brazilian beef, Lula said that the French “don’t say anything anymore” and that the agreement must be signed via the European Commission.
“I want agribusiness to continue growing and causing anger in a French deputy who today insulted Brazilian products. Because we are going to make the Mercosur agreement, not so much because of the issue of money, we are going to do it because I have been in this for 22 years and we are going to do it”, said Lula about the agreement negotiated since 1999 and which needs to be ratified by the parliaments of all countries. countries from both blocs to come into force.
On several occasions, the Brazilian president has already criticized the protectionism of Europeans, especially from Francewhich is under pressure from its agricultural producers.
“If the French don’t want the agreement, they won’t blow the whistle, the European Commission will blow the whistle. And Ursula von der Leyen [presidente da Comissão Europeia] there is a power of attorney to make the agreement and I intend to sign this agreement this year, taking it off my agenda”, added the president during his participation in the National Industry Meeting, in Brasília.
This Tuesday (26), the National Assembly of France rejected the conclusion of the Mercosur-EU agreement and parliamentarians raised doubts about the quality, traceability and health standards of Brazilian meat. Deputy Vincent Trébuchet said that French people’s plates are “not trash cans”.
Last week, the president of Carrefour in France, Alexandre Bompard, also said that animal protein produced in Brazil would not respect the standards established by France and promised French producers to no longer sell meat from Mercosur countries in French markets. The message was poorly received by Brazilian producers, who started a boycott movement in supplying meat to Carrefour markets in Brazil.
This Tuesday (26), Bompard recantedpraising the quality of Brazilian meat and apologized. In a note sent to Agência Brasil, the Carrefour Group said that it already purchases almost all of the meat sold in French markets from French producers and that this decision was intended to help businesspeople in the European country.
Next week, December 5th and 6th, the Mercosur Summit will take place in Montevideo, Uruguay, when the free trade agreement between the two blocs can be announced. Lula will participate in the meeting. The agreement covers both tariff and regulatory topics, such as services, public procurement, trade facilitation, technical barriers, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and intellectual property.
Foreign trade
In his speech at the National Industry Meeting, Lula also stated that he wants to expand Brazil’s trade with other countries and explore new partnerships with “ascending” markets. “[Quero] take advantage of the strategic agreement we made with China, which is the most important agreement on access to new technologies that this country has ever madewhich ranges from artificial intelligence to space technology”, he said.
“In a demonstration that Brazil does not want to continue being small, we do not want to continue being a country on the path to development”, he stated, inviting Brazilian industrialists to join a delegation in search of investments and partnerships in India.
“Our next step is India, so we can take advantage of the possibility of rising markets, unbiased markets, non-stamped markets, so that we can place Brazilian industry there, so that we can partner with innovation industry that Brazil has. It is this country that has to succeed, if it is thought of like that. If this country is thought of as small, it won’t work”, he added.
