The meeting of the leaders of the Mercosur in Foz de Iguazu forced the presidents Javier Milei and Lula de Silva Despite it cold protocol greetingas part of an appointment that takes place as usual “Family photo”this time with a view of the falls, preparing for an agenda importantespecially try to find a common position of the bloc on the European decision to postpone the entry into force of the law again Free trade agreement.
As is well known, it is Mercosur Treaty – EU It was close to being signed several times, but extreme resistance from farmers, particularly in France and Italy, repeatedly led to delays in implementation.
The political note of the day was the arrival of Milei and the greeting with Lula, whom he usually calls ‘Communist’ with other, less fortunate adjectives, and the lack of compassion they show for each other was clearly evident in this greeting, despite being two enormous trading partners of the continent. They were accompanied in this first photo by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship. Pablo Quirno.
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Lula to the EU: “Have courage and sign the agreement”
In his first speech, Lula appealed to the heads of state and government of the European Union “Have courage” and sign the agreement with Mercosur. “Without the political will and courage of those responsible, it will not be possible to conclude the negotiations that have dragged on for 26 years.” said the Brazilian president, while considering that a war in Venezuela would lead to this “A humanitarian catastrophe.”
“Four decades after the Falklands War, the South American continent is once again plagued by the military presence of a supra-regional power.” Lula said during the meeting. “An armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe for the hemisphere and a dangerous precedent for the world,” the leftist leader warned.
Against this backdrop of diplomatic tensions and delays in external negotiations, the Foreign Minister of Paraguay, Ruben Ramirezfirst established the position of the member states by stating: “We are ready to move forward with the understanding that Europe has its deadlines to meet internal institutional issues, but at the same time the deadlines are not unlimited.”.
A European Commission source and two diplomats said this on Friday in Brussels The new date for the signing is January 12th in Paraguaywho will succeed Brazil in the rotating presidency of Mercosur at the end of the summit.
But Ramírez said he had not received any “official communication” regarding this. For his part, Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno called for “to review Mercosur’s priorities in foreign relations and move towards more flexible bilateralities with concrete results.”
In addition to Milei and Lula, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña is also present; his Uruguayan counterpart Yamandú Orsi and the President of Panama, José Raúl Mulino. Farmers, especially in France and Italy, fear the arrival of meat, rice, honey or soy from Mercosur countries, which are more competitive due to production standards considered less stringent.
While Patience with Europe is running outThe South American bloc has had commercial approaches with Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Paraguayan foreign minister said.
NA/AFP/HB
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