Great Britain, Germany, and Spain Criticize Macron, Defend EU-Mercosur Agreement

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Great Britain criticized the position of French President Emmanuel Macron, on Saturday, August 24, for wanting to block the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur to pressure Brazil about the forest fires in the Amazon.

On arriving at the summit of G7 countries, which started on Saturday in France, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that prejudicing the trade agreement is not the best way to resolve the issue.

“There are all types of people who will use it, any excuse to interfere in trade and to thwart the trade agreements, and I don’t want to see that,” said Johnson.

Great Britain aligned with the German position. On Friday night, August 23th, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said that not to conclude the trade agreement with the Mercosur countries “is not an appropriate response to what is happening in Brazil right now.”

An official of Macron’s office said that the French leader later explained his position to Merkel. “It’s something that the president explained to the chancellor so that she understands the position that he took yesterday and it is something that she understood very well,” said the authority.

For a long time, France has expressed reservations about the agreement with Mercosur, with Macron advising in June that he would not sign it if Bolsonaro withdrew Brazil from the Paris Climate Treaty. The French president is worried about the impact that the treaty could cause in his country’s farm production, which is the largest in Europe.

Spain is Against Blocking the Agreement

Spain also showed itself to be against a setback in the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur.

In a message sent to the French Press Agency, the head of the Spanish government stated: “For Spain, the objective of fighting against climate change is a priority, but we consider that it is only applicable to the environmental terms of the Agreement, which can advance further, and we are not proposing a blockage of its ratification, which would isolate the Mercosur countries.”

The text said, further, that Spain led the final phase of the signature of the EU-Mercosur Agreement, confident that the agreement “will open enormous opportunities for both of the regional blocs.”

However, other authorities and countries, like Ireland, support the position of the French president.

On Saturday, on arriving at Biarritz to participate in the G7 Summit, the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said that “it is difficult to imagine” that the European bloc would ratify a free trade pact with Mercosur while Brazil doesn’t stop the fires that ravage the Amazon.

“It’s clear that we support the agreement between the EU and Mercosur…, but it is difficult to imagine a ratification process while the Brazilian government allows the destruction of the green lungs of the Earth,” declared Tusk.

For the full picture, see our Mercosur EU Trade Deal: Complete Guide.