(Reuters)-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and France President Emmanuel Macron pledged during a call on Wednesday to complete the dialogue with a view to signing the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union this semester, the Planalto palace in a statement said.
“Macron and Lula pledged to finish the dialogue with a view to signing the Mercosur European agreement this semester, during the Brazilian presidency of the bloc,” said the statement about the call between the two leaders.
France has been the main obstacle to the signing of the commercial pact between the two blocks, with Macron having already publicly demonstrated its opposition to the agreement against a politically influential French agricultural sector that opposes the treaty.
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In a recent meeting with Macron, Lula asked the French president to open his heart to the agreement.
According to Planalto’s note, Lula and Macron also discussed the commercial tariffs imposed by the United States on Brazilian products, as well as negotiations for the end of the Russian and Ukraine war and the UN COP30 Climate Conference, which will be held in Belém in November.
“In the bilateral field, the presidents pledged to deepen cooperation in defense,” the note said.
