EU-Mercosur agreement is “a bet for the future”, says ambassador

Ignacio Ybáñez calls for sanctions on Russia, criticizes Lula’s speech to Time and reiterates the security of the Brazilian electoral system

The EU (European Union) ambassador to Brazil, the Spaniard Ignacio Ybáñez, said that the agreement between the European bloc and Mercosur is a “bet for the future”. He pondered, however, that it will be difficult to complete it as long as the deforestation of Brazilian forests continues to grow.

“We believe 100% in it [no acordo entre UE e Mercosul]so much so that we don’t want to change any comma”, said the Spaniard in an interview with Globepublished this Wednesday (May 25, 2022).

“But it is true that there is a perception in Europe, in the European Parliament and in many Member States, that it is difficult to finalize and sign an agreement if one of the parties starts to go against the principles of the agreement even before it enters into force.”, he added.

Read other topics covered in the interview:

SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA – Ybáñez, who has served as Spain’s ambassador in Moscow, said that the bloc needs to convince the Brazilian government that “sanctions are the shortest way to get to where we want to go” with Russia.

“We want to restore international legality, and we think that the greater the pressure on Russia now, the more likely we are that the conflict will be short-lived.”

UKRAINE IN THE EU – Ybáñez said that Ukraine has been recognized as a candidate, but membership is not guaranteed until it meets a series of demands from the bloc. “Nobody ever said that the accession would be sudden.”

STATEMENTS BY SQUID TO TIMES – earlier this month, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (EN) told the magazine that the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is “so responsible” for the war in Europe as much as his Russian namesake, Vladimir Putin.

In the view of the European ambassador, “any statement that puts the aggressor country and the attacked country on the same level is not acceptable”. Reinforced being “It is important to assign the correct responsibility to each actor, and the country that needs to take action to restore international legality is Russia”.

“If Russia changes its behavior and stops its aggression, all of us Europeans, and certainly Brazil as well, will be prepared to sit down and discuss how to respond to Russia’s concerns, including some that may be legitimate.”

REFUGEE RECEPTION – Ybáñez played down complaints about the reception of Ukrainian refugees in opposition to what happened to Syrians in 2015. According to him, “it is normal to have a greater understanding of a conflict in a neighboring country than of something far away. (…) This is not good from a moral point of view, but it is understandable from a human point of view.”

EU AS ELECTION OBSERVER IN BRAZIL – Also earlier this month, the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) canceled an invitation it had made to the European bloc to send observers to Brazil during the elections.

“Let’s follow the electoral process, we know that Brazil is a democracy that works well, that has an electronic voting system that has worked very well. We believe in this system”, reiterated Ybáñez, placing the EU at the disposal of Brazilian electoral justice.