Lula says France alone cannot stop

Summary
Lula said that France, alone, will not be able to block the Mercosur-European Union agreement, stressing that Italy is ready to sign the treaty, which could make its formalization viable within a month.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said that France alone will not be able to block the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, which he hopes will be signed within a month. The speech took place this Saturday 20, in Foz do Iguaçu (PR), during the 67th Summit of Heads of State of Mercosur and Associated States.

The formalization of the agreement was scheduled for this Saturday 20. To do this, the prior approval of the majority of the 27 member states of the European bloc was required, which was not obtained, mainly due to the resistance of Italy and France in the face of pressure from farmers in these countries.

According to Lula, the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, guaranteed that if Italy signs the treaty and only France is missing, there will be no possibility that the agreement will not be signed. Yesterday, Lula spoke by telephone with the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and she reportedly said that she was not against the deal, but that she would need a month to convince Italian farmers.

“The agreement will be signed and I hope that it will be, who knows, in the first month of the Paraguayan presidency, by comrade Santiago Pena. Let’s hope that things will come true for the good of our Mercosur, for the good of multilateralism and for the good of the development of our country,” Lula said.

The Mercosur-European Union agreement will create one of the world’s largest free trade zones, bringing together approximately 722 million consumers and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of approximately US$22 trillion.

The partnership envisions Europeans exporting more vehicles, machinery, wine and alcoholic beverages to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. In return, this would make it easier for South American meat, sugar, rice, honey and soy to enter Europe.