ACL
Updated December 4, 2023, 5:53 pm
Despite the stalled negotiations, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wants to continue pushing for a rapid conclusion of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the South American economic alliance, Mercosur. © dpa / Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Despite the stalled negotiations, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wants to continue pushing for a rapid conclusion of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the South American economic alliance, Mercosur. “I kept working on it. I’m not going to give up,” Lula said at the German-Brazilian government consultations in Berlin on Monday. The Mercosur summit, on Thursday, in Rio de Janeiro, is a crucial moment in the negotiations. “We have been working on this agreement for almost 23 years and to this day it has not been concluded,” said Lula. “I hope the European Union demonstrates that it is interested in concluding the treaty.”
The agreement would create one of the largest free trade zones in the world, with more than 700 million inhabitants. Above all, it should reduce tariffs and thus stimulate trade. However, the fully negotiated agreement has been suspended since 2019. The treaty is controversial in both South America and Europe. Some countries want to protect their markets, others fear that labor or environmental standards will be weakened. ©dpa
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