Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and France’s President Emmanuel Macron disagreed about the EU-Mercosur free trade deal at their joint press conference in Paris yesterday. Lula, on a state visit to France, urged his host to sign off on the pact that has riled French farmers and stirred controversy across the agricultural sector. Macron maintained there is need for further changes to the text of the deal. Their opposing views reflect the difficulties to be overcome in wrapping up the long-delayed trade deal between South America’s Mercosur bloc and the European Union.
Although finalised in December, the deal is dependent on the approval of all EU member states and France, for one, insists that the pact in its current form is inimical to the interests of its powerful agricultural sector.
At a joint press conference in Paris where he urged the French president to “open your heart” to the pact, Lula, who is soon to assume the rotating presidency of South America’s Mercosur bloc, made his intentions clear, declaring “I will not leave the Mercosur presidency without having concluded the trade deal”.
Moreover, he hoped to bring French and Brazilian farmers together to settle their differences. He also called on Macron to reassure other European leaders of Brazil’s commitment to fight deforestation.
For his part, Macron said that while he favoured free and equitable trade, the Mercosur deal as currently framed would mean French and European farmers would have to compete against South American counterparts on unequal terms since the latter would not be not subject to the same set of regulatory norms. The text could be improved with the insertion of mirror clauses, he maintained. (Previously, France argued for the insertion of an emergency break clause to restrict imports if a sudden surge in imports destabilises certain EU markets).
This week, French farming groups met with MPs and urged Macron to rally partners to form a blocking minority against the Mercosur deal, which they claim could be devastating for the beef, poultry and sugar industries and would compromise the EU’s drive for food sovereignty.
Turning to the war between Russia and Ukraine, Macron suggested that Brazil, along with China and India, could step up efforts to persuade Moscow to end the fighting. Lula said he was committed to brokering peace between the two countries. Saying everyone wanted peace, Macron pointed out that the fact that Moscow was the aggressor had to be kept in mind in any negotiations to end the fighting.
