If the Mercosur-EU agreement doesn’t happen now, it won’t happen again, says Lula

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said this Friday (27.Oct.2023) that if the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union does not come to fruition while he is president and Pedro Sánchez is at the head of the European bloc, it is possible that it will not go out more.

“If the two of us, who are friends, don’t make a huge effort to make this agreement, I don’t think it will happen. I want to get this agreement off the ground”he said at a breakfast with journalists at Palácio do Planalto.

Lula had already placed a kind of ultimatum on the issue. She said the agreement should be signed by the end of this year. In September, the president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, said that he will not lead the negotiations when his country assumes the rotating presidency of Mercosur, in early December, if nothing is signed by then.

Mercosur and the EU agreed on a text in 2019, but its conclusion has been delayed. The EU presented new demands in a letter sent in March, which calls for the inclusion of more environmental commitments and sanctions for non-compliance, which was not well received by Brazil.

Furthermore, the EU approved its own anti-deforestation law in April that bans imports of products from areas deforested after December 2020, which according to Lula has “extraterritorial effects and modify the balance of the agreement”.

The PT member also opposes a provision in the agreement on government purchases, which would authorize European companies to participate in public tenders in Mercosur countries on equal terms with local companies. According to Lula, this would harm small and medium-sized companies in Brazil.

Mercosur sent its response to the EU letter on September 13 and negotiators from the 2 blocs continue to seek an understanding.

COFFEE WITH JOURNALISTS

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) brought together 38 journalists from 38 media outlets at a breakfast this Friday (27.Oct.2023) at Palácio do Planalto that lasted 1h20. O Poder360 participated. It was the PT member’s 5th meeting with the media since he returned to power in January this year. The event was held on the birthday of the Chief Executive, who turned 78 years old.

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Here are the names of the journalists and vehicles that participated:

The first lady, Janja Lula da Silva, sat on the president’s left side. On Lula’s right side was the minister of the Presidency’s Communication Secretariat, Paulo Pimenta. At the right end of the main table was also the minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Márcio Macêdo, and at the left end, the press secretary, José Chrispiniano, who coordinated the choice of which journalists could ask Lula questions.

Here are the outlets that asked questions, in the order in which they were asked:

• Economic value;
• Brasil247;
• Reuters;
• Diary of the Center of the World;
• Globo TV;
• Folha de S.Paulo.

The coffee was scheduled for 11 am, but Lula arrived at 11:44 am accompanied by Janja and the Minister of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, who left right at the beginning of the coffee.

Listen to the full audio of Lula’s coffee with journalists in Planalto (1h22min43sec):

Pimenta began the meeting with a brief speech in which he summarized the government’s main actions in the 1st year of Lula’s 3rd term. He said that the administration’s initial objective was to resume social programs that were extinct or suspended. He also stated that the government is doing everything in its power to remove all Brazilians who are in Israel and the Gaza Strip and want to leave the conflicted region.

Over coffee, Lula reinforced his government’s determination and said that “no Brazilians in Israel or Gaza”. The minister also gave a round of applause in celebration of Lula’s birthday.

The places at the approximately 10 meter table were pre-defined by the Planalto team. All seats came with the names of the journalists and the vehicle they work for. Breakfast was also laid out on the tables with individual portions of fruit (grapes, mango, papaya and melon), cold cuts such as salami, turkey breast and cheese, carrot and cornmeal cake, a small sandwich and a basket of bread, with cheese bread and croissants. There was coffee, water and orange juice.

At the end of the meeting, Pimenta asked everyone to sing the congratulatory song for Lula. In a joking tone, the president said that he hoped to have received a gift from the journalists, which did not happen.

The 1st breakfast with the media was on January 12th. On the occasion, Lula met with reporters who cover the day-to-day life of the Palácio do Planalto. They are known, in Brasília, as “sectorists” of the Presidency. At the time, the main topic was the invasion of the headquarters of the Three Powers, which took place on January 8th. 38 journalists were received, including the Poder360.

On February 7, Lula received journalists from at least 40 left-wing outlets at the Palace. In PT groups, they are called “independent media”. On April 6, Lula received columnists and writers from media outlets.

Lula promised to hold another breakfast with journalists by the end of 2023 to present an overview of his first year in government.