Lula criticizes limitations imposed by the EU on the agreement with Mercosur
20 Apr (Reuters) – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized, during a visit to Germany this Monday, the environmental rules and unilateral limitations imposed by the European Union on the trade agreement with Mercosur, which partially comes into force on May 1st.
‘An agreement can only be sustained if there is balance in the concessions made from party to party. A series of measures adopted by the EU threaten, however, to tip the scales, said the president during a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Hannover, Germany.
Lula defends agriculture and asks Germans not to believe in “myths” about biofuels
Brazilian president denied rumors that the country would stop producing food or occupy protected forests and forests to produce biofuel
Lula also said that he “agrees with decarbonization and environmental preservation policies, but that it is not correct to ‘adopt metrics that are not faithful to reality nor compatible with multilateral rules’.
‘It is not possible to overcome unilateralism with more unilateralism’, he stated.
Even with the agreement partially coming into force, the EU must put into practice this year a new environmental law that could limit Mercosur exports, especially Brazilian ones, based on rules against deforestation.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Eduardo Simões)
