Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the Republic, attends the inauguration of the UFABC laboratory building on 06/02/2023
The president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) held a press conference this Thursday, 22nd, classifying as “unacceptable” the European Union’s proposal for a free trade agreement with the European Union Mercosur. In the version proposed by the Europeans, there is a penalty for South American countries that do not comply with the provisions of the Paris Agreement an international treaty dealing with climate change. According to the Brazilian representative, the proposed agreement does not meet the wishes of Latin American countries and the attempt by the European bloc to punish those who do not comply with the environmental agreement is “unacceptable”. “Brazil wants the right to restore its industrialization capability. O Brazil ever had a gross domestic product [PIB] Industry 30%, today our GDP is only 10%. The additional letter that the European Union sent to Mercosur is unacceptable. They didn’t even comply with the Paris Agreement, they didn’t comply with the Kyoto Protocol, they didn’t comply with the Copenhagen decision, so we have to show a little more sensitivity and a little more humility,” he said he. Lula also noted that the federal government will work to ensure that the final deal benefits both continents. The agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, passed in 2019 after two decades of negotiations, has yet to be ratified by the parliaments of all 31 countries involved in the negotiations divided into the two blocs before the agreement can enter into force.