“Brazil He doesn’t give up. We Brazilians do not give up,” he said from Berlin. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in the presence of a chancellor Olaf Scholz resorted to “pragmatism” to finally close the free trade agreement between Mercosur And European Union (EU). The Brazilian leader also counts the head of the Spanish government among his allies. Pedro Sánchezand its German counterpart. However, with the rejection of both Frenchmen Emmanuel Macron like an argentine Alberto Fernandez. Lula assured that neither the support of social democrats Sánchez and Scholz nor the rejection of Macron were due to partisan issues. France blocked agreement with both conservatives Nicolas Sarkozy Presidency as low socialist François HollandeHe remembered the Brazilian leader. According to Lula, Paris is blocking the deal with Mercosur due to “protectionist” interests. The rejection of the outgoing Argentine Government need not continue under elected rule. Javier MileiLula showed this courage, although he did not specify what he based his hopes on.
The truth is that Lula expected the Mercosur-EU agreement to be signed at the end of this week. world’s largest market With 780 million citizens. The Mercosur block consists of: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay And Uruguay. The framework Lula wanted was the Mercosur summit, chaired by Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, which starts this Wednesday and where Sánchez is expected to represent the EU. Lula sees the Spanish as a great ally of the Europeans in the absence of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who “will not travel to Brazil due to agenda.” “I don’t know what personal reasons the Argentinian President has for saying he doesn’t want to sign the agreement,” she added. The outgoing executive from Buenos Aires said there was “no time” to sign the deal this week, whose negotiations have been stuck since 2019.
While Lula emphasized, “We have been working on this for 23 years… I am not giving up, I have shown this throughout my life. We Brazilians do not give up,” while Scholz merely expressed his confidence that the persistent rejections will continue. will be overcome.
Charisma versus coldness
In front of Scholz, Lula at her most pure, emotional and passionate was a person well suited to her role; that is, as a representative of his coldness. Throughout his political career, the Brazilian president was a regular guest at events of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD). But beyond political affinities, there are huge differences between one and the other.
The Brazilian President adopted a tone closer to a public event than a press conference. UN “does not fulfill the role for which it was created”; that is, to maintain peace in the world. And put this accusation both on the war and on Ukraine Like the Middle East. he blamed Israel’s ‘terrorist actions’ against the population Palestine. Scholz, meanwhile, attempted to argue that it was “common views” that both Brazil and Germany “condemned the brutal actions of October 7.” Hamas attacks This accelerated Israel’s reaction. “We both believe that there must be a political solution and that it is based on the two-state formula of Israel and Palestine,” the chancellor added. Although Germany has somewhat hardened its attitude towards Tel Aviv and called for protecting the lives of Palestinian civilians, it maintains its line of unconditional solidarity towards Israel out of historical responsibility.
The differences were also reflected when Lula was asked whether he would invite Vladimir Putin to next year’s G20 summit of great powers and developing countries, to be held under Brazil’s chairmanship. “He will be invited and if he attends he will have to face the consequences of an international arrest warrant,” he said. He then referred to the fact that Brazil had signed the Rome Statute of the International Hague Tribunal, which he reminded that neither Russia nor the United States had signed. “Whether to arrest or not? This is not the decision of the head of state, but the decision of justice,” he added. While Lula moved away from his closeness to the Kremlin leader, Scholz reminded that Germany is the country that provides the most military and political support to Kiev after the United States.
Maintain the strategic alliance that broke down under Bolsonaro
Lula went to Berlin to chair the German-Brazil intergovernmental consultations, the first between the two countries in eight years. Brazil is Germany’s first trading partner in Latin America, and Berlin recognized the South American country as a preferred ally in 2015, along with the conservative Chancellor. Angela Merkel in power.
However, the biennial consultation format was suspended after an agreement was reached in 2019. Jair Bolsonaro To the Brazilian presidency. Germany has frozen the so-called Amazon Fund, established together with Norway as a result of the far-right leader’s destructive deforestation campaign. With Lula’s return to the presidency, this Amazon initiative was reactivated by both Berlin and Oslo. From a bilateral perspective, the main point of Lula’s visit was the signing of the so-called Association for Just and Ecological Transformation, followed by the intervention of the Brazilian President at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK).