By Lisandra Paraguassu
BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday he hoped a trade deal between the European Union and the South American Mercosur bloc would be finalized by the end of this year, even as it faced opposition, mainly from France.
“We will get it done,” Lula told an event hosted by industry group CNI in Brasilia, shrugging off French opposition.
The deal was being negotiated directly with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, he said.
“Von der Leyen has the mandate to make this agreement, and I intend to sign it this year,” Lula said.
Mercosur joins Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia in a market that is a sought-after destination for EU manufacturing exporters, though European farmers, especially in France, fear the competition it will bring.
A deal between the EU and Mercosur has been in the works for some 25 years. The parties had announced an agreement in 2019, but it was never formally ratified due to EU demands for commitments on Amazonian deforestation and climate change.
European negotiators arrived in Brazil on Tuesday for a new round of talks ahead of a Mercosur summit in Uruguay’s capital Montevideo next week. A source familiar with the matter said there was “good will” from both parties to clinch an agreement.
Despite the opposition from France and Poland, other EU countries such as Germany and Spain favor the deal.
Argentina, whose President Javier Milei has said in the past that the South American common market served no purpose, on Wednesday also voiced support for the deal.
“We support trade agreements, whether the one you refer to or any other that can benefit Argentines,” presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni told a press conference when asked about the Mercosur-EU deal.
Both Milei and Lula met with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month in South America.
Macron reiterated France’s opposition to a deal due to concerns over agricultural imports that do not meet European standards and said Milei had expressed dissatisfaction to him with the current terms of the trade accord.