Paris (EFE) environment.
“Until the end of the year we will have a decision on the matter and I hope that we have the capacity and wisdom on this matter that is so important for the EU and Mercosur,” Lula told reporters in a hotel in Paris, where he ended today his European tour that took him to meet with several heads of state, including the Frenchman Emmanuel Macron.
Lula stressed that the free trade agreement will be a very important issue at the summit to be held in Brussels in mid-July between CELAC and the EU, to which the Brazilian president said he will try to attend.
The EU-Mercosur agreement focuses his meeting with Macron
The South American president asserted that the EU-Mercosur pact, which had been reached in 2019 but was later stalled due to the refusal of various European parliaments to endorse it, was the “most important” issue addressed with Macron.
“(The French president) told me that there is no prohibited topic to talk about, we know what your business is, protect your interests, and we ours, we are not going to accept that government purchases from our SMEs are prohibited,” he said.
For the Brazilian president, the two blocs have to “leave arrogance aside” and he called for “common sense” to prevail.
“We need the agreement with the EU and the EU also needs it, because the EU cannot remain as if it were a slice of bologna between the United States and China,” he added.
Lula assumed that Macron has a difficult time with a Parliament hostile to the agreement and confessed that he will try to “convince” his “friends” on the left in the Chamber, in relation to the LFI party founded by Jean-Luc Mélénchon, that the pact is good. .