BUENOS AIRESEThe president of Brazil, Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, assumed the presidency of the Mercosur with the goal of concretizing the agreement between that South American bloc and the European Union (UE) in a regional summit held on Jueves in Buenos Aires, where they clarified the differences regarding commercial policies with their ambassador, Argentina’s Javier Milei.
Today, after the cita between the presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia—members of the South American bloc—we assume the presidency of Mercosur with the commitment to finalize the Mercosur-Uni in Europe within the next six months, Lula wrote on his Twitter account, X.
The president of Panama, Jos Ra l Mulino, who is also affiliated with Mercosur, was present at the Buenos Aires cumbre. Mulino has noted that Panama offers the block its logistic platform for entry into other markets, such as the Central American and Caribbean markets. On the other hand, Panama will be able to access the market of a group of countries that make up one of the largest economies in the world.
During the encounter, Milei, an ultralibeal of extreme right, passed the Mercosur presidency to the Brazilian government, which is in the ant podas of giics.
In particular, the agreement between the EU and the Mercosur, which was announced by the end of 2024, allowed for the establishment of one of the largest free trade zones in the world, encompassing over 700 million people and accounting for about 25% of global gross domestic product.
France encases a group of people who all have pact objectives.
In her message in X, Lula also highlights that the next six months will be a time of intense work because Brazil will be hosting the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in 2025, also known as COP30, in the city of Belem in November, during a time of significant upheaval for multilateralism. Furthermore, the support of the Mercosur and all of South America is essential.
The opinions of Lula and Milei regarding what should be the position of the bloc, which is the first economy in Latin America, were reflected in the regional summit.
“We must stop thinking of the Mercosur as a shield that protects us and start thinking of it as a means that enables us to effectively penetrate the global markets,” said Milei.
Argentina demonstrates the necessity of implementing pro-commercial liberty reforms within the next six months. “We will embark on the path of liberty, and we will do so with friends or alone, because Argentina cannot wait, as I have stated.
As a result, Lula emphasizes that membership in Mercosur protects its members and that the external alliance is blind to commercial wars. Additionally, it is stated that Brazil is contributing to the strengthening of trade between its own citizens and with external trade barriers as well as to the transition of energy in the context of the fight against climate change, whose existence is still unabated.
Despite these differences, the final communication of the cumbre aims to achieve equilibrium by highlighting the points of agreement among the socios, such as strengthening cooperation in the fight against transnational criminal organizations committed to the trafficking of illegal immigrants and weapons of mass destruction.
It was a successful combination of Milei’s liberal, disruptive realism and Lula’s multilateral pragmatism. Both preferred to maintain the Mercosur’s unity, Jorge Arias, director of the Latin American political consulting firm Polilat, told The Associated Press.
Arias states that all of the policies that Milei opposes are endorsed in the communication, including those pertaining to human rights and the preservation of state action in the creation of proactive inclusive policies.
According to the communication, the countries ratified their commitment to upholding democratic institutions, the full force of the state of rights, intergovernmental efforts to strengthen multilateralism, and the promotion of equality in all its dimensions.
As a result, Gabriel Puricelli, coordinator of the Laboratorio de Politicas P blicas’s Politica Internacional program, stated that while Milei’s lack of cooperation with some of his colleagues “is contrary to the bloque’s dynamic, a retroceso of the same is very difficult to bear.”
In principle, the Mercosur is not a peligro; it is too significant for the small-scale economic actors of the country’s members. It is a deeply internalized system of commercial norms that cannot be prescinded by a political forum, according to Puricelli.
During the summit, Mercosur and the European Association of Free Trade, which is made up of Islandia, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Suiza, announced a free trade agreement that would be implemented in 2025 with the goal of expanding market access and encouraging inversions.
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Almudena Calatrava, an AP journalist, contributes to this note.
