US EditionBrazil’s Lula Hails Historic EU-Mercosur Deal Ahead of No-Show at Its Signing
The EU-Mercosur agreement will create a $22 trillion market with 720 million people, but Brazil's President Lula will not attend the signing ceremony in Paraguay.
- On Saturday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will not travel to Asuncion for the ceremonial signing, and Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira will represent Brazil.
- Originally planned as a ministerial signing, the ceremony was upgraded at short notice by Paraguay, and experts say Lula's absence reflects disappointment over the missed deal during Brazil's Mercosur presidency.
- Presidents from Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay are expected at the ceremony in Asuncion, with Paraguay's Santiago Peña, Uruguay's Yamandú Orsi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council head António Costa, and special guests Panama and Bolivia attending.
- Lula's absence has prompted criticism from some regional partners, exposing diplomatic strains within Mercosur as senior Argentine government officials told La Nacion he `set up a parallel summit a day earlier`.
- The accord would create one of the world's largest free-trade areas, covering about 720 million people with a GDP of over $22 trillion, but still faces opposition from European farmers and about 150 members of the European Parliament.
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83 Articles
South American bloc to ink long-awaited trade deal with EU
The South American trade bloc Mercosur and the European Union will sign on Saturday a deal 25 years in the making to create one of the world's largest free trade areas at a time of growing protectionism and volatility.
Legislator Esperanza Martínez directly linked President Lula da Silva's decision not to attend the signing of the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union for the rejection of his peers from Argentina and Paraguay.
The EU and the Mercosur countries today sign the joint free trade agreement in the Paraguayan capital Asunción.
The President of the European Commission and the Brazilian Head of State wanted to meet in Rio de Janeiro on Friday 16 January, the latter being unable to be present for signature on Saturday in Paraguay.
Meeting with Lula preceded signature in Assunción. Trade agreement will eliminate tariffs for 91% of European exports and 92% of South American exports, benefiting from cars and agriculture.
The trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur is good for "multilateralism", Brazil's President Lula da Silva said on Friday 16 January when he received in Rio de Janeiro the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who celebrated "the opening".
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