President states that France’s contrary position “was already known” and says that the “blame” for a possible failure does not lie with Brazil
The president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) stated this Sunday (3.dec.2023) that the position of the leader of France, Emmanuel Macron, on the agreement between Mercosur and the EU (European Union) “was already known”. On Saturday (Dec 2), the French president said to be against the text under negotiation.
“If there is no agreement, be patient. It wasn’t for lack of will”, declared Lula to journalists in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), where he participated in COP28, the UN Climate Conference (United Nations). The president stated that one thing “must be clear” if the agreement does not advance: “Don’t say anymore that it’s because of Brazil and don’t say anymore that it’s because of South America”.
Lula declared that the “rich countries“they must take responsibility for what they don’t want”make an agreement with the prospect of making any concession”.
“It’s always about winning more. We are no longer colonized, we are independent. And we want to be treated only with respect, like independent countries that have things to sell and the things we have to sell have a price“, he said.
According to the head of the Executive, Mercosur wants to “a certain balance”. But, if the agreement does not materialize, “It will be clear who is to blame.” due to the failure of negotiations. “Now, what we are not going to do is make an agreement to take losses”, declared Lula.
When talking to journalists on Saturday (Dec 2), Macron stated that the proposal being discussed is “old-fashioned”. He said: “I am against the Mercosur-European Union agreement. It is an agreement completely contradictory to what he [Lula] is doing in Brazil and what we are doing […] This agreement, in essence, does not take into account climate biodiversity”.
Macron declared he could not defend the agreement at an international conference when “you can’t explain it to French farmers.” According to the President of France, he cannot ask the French to “make efforts to decarbonize” and then say “removing all fees” to bring products to the country in which these rules are not applied.
Lula stated that this position is known in Brazil. “France has always been a country that created obstacles in the Mercosur agreement with the European Union because France has thousands of small producers and they want to produce their products“, he said.
“Now, what they don’t know is that we also have 4.6 million small properties of up to 100 hectares that produce almost 90% of the food we eat, which is quality food, and that we also want to sell”, he added.
The head of the Executive said he had asked Macron, during the meeting they had on Saturday (Dec 2), to think about the agreement. “I held a meeting with Macron to try to move his heart. I said: ‘Macron, when you go back to France, open your heart, man, think a little about South America, think about Mercosur, we are poor countries, we have small countries’”, stated Lula.
“Well, it seems to me that he didn’t think. He didn’t even give his heart time, because he already went to tell you [jornalistas, sobre a posição contrária ao acordo]”, he added.
According to Lula, France “gotta know“that Brazil”There are also industries” and that it won’t “facilitate the government purchases”, as he wants Brazilian businesses to grow.
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