President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said, this Thursday (22nd), that the European Union (EU) proposal in the free trade agreement with Mercosur, to establish punishment for those who fail to comply with the terms of the Paris Agreement, is unacceptable, the international treaty on climate change adopted in 2015. Lula has an agenda in Italy and France this week and spoke to the press in Rome, before leaving for Paris. “This proposed agreement is not in line with what is the dream of Latin American countries, like Brazil, which wants to have the right to recover its industrialization capacity. Brazil once had a Gross Domestic Product [PIB] of 30%, today our GDP is only 10%”, he said. “The additional letter that the European Union sent to Mercosur is unacceptable […], nor did they comply with the Paris Agreement, that is, the rich countries did not comply with the Paris Agreement, did not comply with the Kyoto Protocol, did not comply with the Copenhagen decision, so we need to have a little more sensitivity, a little more humility. We are preparing our response to the European Union, to make an agreement that favors both continents”, added the president. In Paris, Lula will have a bilateral meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and will deal with the approval, last week, by the National Assembly of France, of a resolution against the ratification of the Mercosur-EU agreement. The measure was considered harsh by the Brazilian president. “France is very tough in defending its agricultural interests,” he said. “But we have to understand that others also have the right to defend their agriculture, so it is necessary that each one gives up their perfectionism and protectionism too so that we can build the possibility of an agreement that improves the situation of the Union Europe and South America”, he reinforced. Lula also defended changes in points of the free trade agreement on government purchases. Approved in 2019, after 20 years of negotiations, the Mercosur-EU agreement needs to be ratified by the parliaments of all countries in both blocs to enter into force. The negotiation involves 31 countries, which could take years and face resistance. War in Ukraine Lula has been in Italy since last Tuesday (20) and, during his visit to Rome and the Vatican, he spoke with several authorities about the possibility of an agreement to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “We need to have people involved in discussing the issue of peace. It is necessary to put the actors on a negotiating table. It is necessary to stop shooting and it is necessary to try to find a peaceful solution because the world has 800 million human beings who go to sleep every night without having anything to eat. It is not fair to spend billions of dollars on an unnecessary war,” argued the president. “A peace agreement is not a surrender. In the peace agreement, the two involved have to win something, otherwise there is no agreement, ”he said. Among other leaders, Lula met with Pope Francis, with the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, with the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and with the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri. According to him, everyone agrees on the need to end the war. The president again criticized the position of the permanent member countries of the United Nations Security Council to promote wars around the world and defended new global governance, with the participation of more countries in the decision-making tables. Lula reaffirmed Brazil’s position of condemning Russia’s territorial occupation of Ukraine. “You can’t imagine that this fight is going to be endless,” he said. “The two presidents need to take this into account and everyone knows that Brazil condemned Russia’s territorial occupation of Ukraine. “By the way, it is fashionable for people who participate as permanent members of the UN Security Council to invade other countries without asking permission. The United States invaded Iraq, England and France invaded Libya, now the [presidente russo, Vladimir] Putin invades Ukraine. They are the most powerful people in the UN system, they couldn’t be doing this,” he added. The effective members of the council are China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States. Conversation with Pope Despite health problems, President Lula said he found Pope Francis “very motivated and very willing to continue his fight both against inequality and to build peace on the planet.” For Lula, it is necessary to place the fight against inequality at the top of global priorities. At the Vatican, the president invited Francis to make a new visit to Brazil, to attend the traditional feast of the Círio de Nazaré, in Belém (PA), in October. The pontiff’s first international trip, after taking office in 2013, was to Rio de Janeiro. According to Lula, there was no positive response to the invitation. “I think from the smile he gave, he has the will,” he said. “I don’t know if he will or not, but he has to take into account the grandeur of the Catholic Church in Brazil”, he added. Questioned about the impasse between the Church and the government in Nicaragua, the president said that he intends to speak with the country’s president, Daniel Ortega, to release the priests who are imprisoned. “There’s no reason to keep preventing him from exercising his function in the church”, said Lula. “I’ll try to help if I can, these things aren’t always easy because not everyone is big enough to apologize. The word sorry is simple, but it takes a lot of grandeur. When you do something wrong, you recognize, not every man has the courage to say ‘I made a mistake and I’m going to change my position’, so it’s a job of convincing. I have a lot of patience,” he added. Agenda in Europe After the press conference, Lula left for Paris. In the French capital, he will participate in the Summit on the New Global Financing Pact and will have a bilateral meeting with President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders who will be in the city for the summit. Lula will also give the closing speech at the Power Our Planet event, at the invitation of the band Coldplay, this Thursday night (22). The event will be held at Campo de Marte, in front of the Eiffel Tower, and will also be attended by leaders from East Timor, Barbados, Ghana and Kenya, as well as the mayor of Paris, Ane Hidalgo. “It is always a joy to visit Italy, a country with which we have a brotherly relationship. I had great meetings with President Sergio Mattarella, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and with the Holy Father. Now, I’m going to France, to meet heads of state and talk about the sustainable development of the world”, wrote Lula, in a publication on social networks.
Agência Brasil
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