“If there is no agreement, be patient”, says Lula about Europeans and Mercosur

In an interview this Sunday (3), in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated that South American countries will not be responsible for the possible lack of negotiation with the European Union.

The president, who participated in the United Nations (UN) climate conference, COP 28, spoke to journalists before departing for Germany.

“If there is no agreement, be patient. It wasn’t for lack of will. The only thing that has to be clear is that they no longer say that it is because of Brazil. And don’t say anymore that it’s because of South America. Take responsibility for the fact that rich countries don’t want to make an agreement with the prospect of making any concessions”, demanded the president.

Read more: COP 28: Lula calls on entities to fight to prevent the advance of the extreme right wing

Lula accused rich countries of “always winning more”. “And we are no longer colonized. We are independent. And we want to be treated only with the respect of independent countries, that we have things to sell and the things we have to sell have a price. What we want is a certain balance”, she defended.

Regarding the position contrary to the agreement of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, the Brazilian said that it was already a “historically known” opinion.

“France has always been the country that created the obstacle in the Mercosur agreement with the European Union, because France has thousands of small producers and they want to produce their products. And that. Now, what they don’t know is that we also have 4 million and 600 thousand small properties, up to 100 hectares, which produce almost 90% of the food we eat and which are quality food and which we also want to sell”, he noted.

The president said that rich countries need to know that the country has industry and needs to grow. “We are not going to facilitate government purchases because we want our industry to grow,” he said.

“So Macron’s position was already known to me. Yesterday, I had a meeting with Macron to try to move his heart. I said: ‘Macron, when you go back to France, open your heart, man. Think a little about South America, think about Mercosur. We are poor countries, we have small countries. Well, it seems to me that he didn’t think. He didn’t even give his heart time, because he already went to inform you”, he said.

Lula says the dialogue will continue. “So, I think we’re going to have a talk. I had a great conversation with Ursula von der Leyen, who is the president of the European Commission, and we’ll see how it goes on Friday. If there is no agreement, at least it will be clear who is to blame for not having an agreement. Now, what we are not going to do is make an agreement to take losses”, she considered.

“I’m now going back to Germany, and then to Rio de Janeiro, to reunite Mercosur, and I’m going back very happy. Very happy because we are leaving an international meeting that with each passing year gains more scope, gains more responsibility, and gains more representation”, said the president.