Luis Lacalle Pou and Lula da Silva, yesterday in Montevideo / AFP
Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva considered “urgent and extremely necessary” for Mercosur to close an agreement with the European Union (EU), before negotiating a treaty with China, during a visit to Uruguay, a country that is making progress on its own in negotiations trade with Beijing.
“It is urgent and extremely necessary for Mercosur to reach an agreement with the EU,” Lula urged after meeting with his Uruguayan counterpart Luis Lacalle Pou.
“We are going to intensify our discussions with the EU and sign that agreement so that we can immediately discuss an agreement between China and Mercosur. I think it is possible, ”added the visitor, who arrived at the presidential residence accompanied by his wife Rosangela.
Uruguay began negotiations with China and asked to enter the Trans-Pacific Agreement without the consent of its Mercosur partners, generating tensions and warnings from Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay that the bloc could crack.
However, Lacalle Pou was clear in pointing out that “we belong to Mercosur and we have not changed that vocation.”
“No one escapes the economic and demographic weight of Brazil (…) and if there is a decision by President Lula to move forward with China, we can move forward,” he stressed. “Uruguay has its dialogue with China” and “Brazil will surely pursue other paths, and we will get together and say (…) Uruguay folds,” he added.
Montevideo has been demanding greater flexibility from Mercosur for years, as well as trade opening, a request that Lula considered “more than fair.”
“It is fair to want to produce more and want to sell more. That is why an opening is important, ”he pointed out, while he said he was“ totally in agreement ”with renewing Mercosur“ everything that is necessary ”.
Despite the fact that Lacalle Pou said that the meeting with Lula generated “optimism” in him, the tensions within the bloc are installed. The partners have made it clear that the Uruguayan position of promoting agreements with third parties violates the founding statutes of Mercosur, created in 1991, and they even threatened Montevideo with legal and commercial measures.
After the meeting with Lacalle Pou, Lula met with the mayor of Montevideo, Carolina Cosse, one of the main figures of the left-wing opposition coalition Frente Amplio (FA).
