from Brazil, Emmanuel Macron calls for “building a new agreement”

The French president has always been against the free trade agreement between Europe and South America. And, he did not hesitate to remind him from Brazil, where he is visiting.

On the last day of his state visit to Brazil, Emmanuel Macron goes to Brasilia, the capital, Thursday March 28. On the program: a bilateral meeting with his counterpart Lula and a joint press conference. Never have so many contracts been signed between the two countries. The French president even affirmed on Wednesday that he did not despair of selling Rafale planes.

On the other hand, among the angry subjects is Mercosur, the free trade treaty between the European Union and several Latin American countries including Brazil, a subject of tension between Emmanuel Macron and Lula against the backdrop of the agricultural crisis. On Wednesday, the French head of state did not hesitate to repeat it.

The subject should not be brought up. Finally, Emmanuel Macron assumes to put his foot in the dish: “Let’s put an end to Mercosur from 20 years ago”. In front of an audience of business leaders, the equivalent of Medef in Brazil, Emmanuel Macron denounces a very bad agreement. “In this agreement, there is nothing that takes into account the subject of biodiversity and climate, underlines the head of state. When I ask cement companies in France to massively decarbonize, when I ask farmers – which you distribute – to do the same thing, to do without pesticides, I cannot in the same second say I want to open my market and allow people who do not follow the same rules to import massively without tariffs”he argues.

Show that times have changed

This charge is not new. Emmanuel Macron has always been against Mercosur and he has not held back from repeating it in every tone to French farmers in recent weeks. But calling to end the treaty from Brazil makes a difference: the weight of the symbol. “I say this in a country where you are making efforts and where you have a government which has tackled the subject of deforestation and wants to promote it. Let’s build a new agreement with mirror clauses and which will be more demanding on both sides ‘other”declares Emmanuel Macron.

By calling for a new agreement, the French head of state is trying to show that times have changed. By trying not to offend Lula too much, nor to antagonize certain European countries like Germany, which are very favorable to Mercosur.