French President Emmanuel Macron was in Brazil from 26 March to 28 March for a multi-day visit, during which he met with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Although he praised relations between Europe—more specifically, France—and Brazil, he once again strongly criticised the EU-Mercosur trade agreement that is currently being discussed.
Mr Macron believes that [Mercosur and the EU] need to “build” a new agreement “that is responsible from the point of view of development, the climate, and biodiversity. A next-generation agreement with mirror clauses”.
As for the Brazilian president, he had, a few weeks ago, called for negotiations to be concluded quickly. On Wednesday, 27 March, Brazilian Minister of the Economy Fernando Haddad felt, “We should make the most of the opportunities for greater trade between the European Union and Mercosur”.
Discussions between the negotiating teams for both parties have continued in recent weeks—despite France’s calls to halt the process—against a backdrop of farmers’ anger spreading across the EU.
In addition, Emmanuel Macron lamented the lower level of Brazilian investment in France. In his opinion, investors have no excuse, considering Paris simplified labour market rules and tax rules for businesses.
The French head of state’s visit to Brazil was also an opportunity to broach the subject of the current global geopolitical context and its conflicts. While Mr Macron spoke of Brazil and France sharing “the same worldview”, he affirmed, “sometimes, we need to know how to use firm language to protect peace”—no doubt referring to Brazil’s non-alignment with Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)