(Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva said on Wednesday he will send the European Union a counter-proposal on the long-delayed trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur in the coming two or three weeks.
“We have put together the Brazilian response, it is being discussed and in two-three weeks time we will deliver the proposal to the European Union,” Lula told reporters after taking part in the EU-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) summit in Brussels.
He said he thought the EU would agree with his counter-proposal.
The EU and the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay completed negotiations in 2019 but the deal has been on hold due to concerns about Amazon deforestation and Brazil’s commitment to climate change action.
Lula, who was elected last year, has promised to overhaul his country’s climate policy.
The Commission has proposed attaching an annex to the agreement to show commitments on deforestation and other areas of sustainability and is awaiting Mercosur’s response.
“For the first time I am optimistic that we will conclude this agreement later this year and it would be very good if we could conclude this agreement during the presidency of Spain,” Lula said.
(Reporting by Catarina Demony, writing by Inti Landauro, editing by Emma Pinedo and Bernadette Baum)
