EU and Mercosur agreement is the topic of Lula’s conversation with Von der Leyen

The progress of negotiations on the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union was the topic of the telephone conversation between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, on Monday afternoon (20).

According to Palácio do Planalto, the conversation lasted around half an hour and dealt with the final points of the agreement between the two blocs. “The two agreed to closely monitor the work of the negotiators in the coming days and should meet again next week, during COP28, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates”, informed the press office.

The finalization of the agreement was also discussed recently in a conversation between Lula and the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, who holds the rotating presidency of the European bloc.

The presidency of the Brazilian government in Mercosur runs until December 7th, three days before the inauguration of the elected president of Argentina, Javier Milei, who has already defended Argentina’s exit from the economic bloc. Afterwards, Milei retreated from the idea and started to defend only changes in Mercosur, which also brings together Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay.

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 come into force. The negotiation involves 31 countries.