The 77-year-old president will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday (20). In Paris, Lula will also participate in the summit on a new global financial pact to deal with climate change.
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“I'm going to have lunch with Macron. I want to discuss with him the issue of the French Parliament, which approved the tightening of the Mercosur-EU agreement”, said Lula in an interview broadcast live on public broadcaster TV Brasil.
“The EU cannot try to threaten to punish Mercosur if it does not comply with this or that. If we are strategic partners, you don't have to threaten, you need to help”, added the president, reiterating a statement he made last week when receiving the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Brasília.
Mercosur — formed by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay — reached an agreement with the EU in 2019, after more than 20 years of negotiations. The pact was not ratified, however, in part due to Europe's concern over the environmental policies of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
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The climate improved with Lula's return to power in January, but the Europeans' environmental demands, contained in a complementary document to the agreement recently presented by the EU, tempered enthusiasm.
The lunch hosted by President Macron is scheduled for Friday, the last day of Lula's schedule in Europe.
Lula will participate, on Thursday and Friday, in Paris, in the world summit that seeks to reform the architecture of global finance to better respond to the challenges of climate change.
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The president will also give a speech on Thursday about the environment at the “Power Our Planet: Live in Paris” show, in front of the Eiffel Tower, in Paris. Organized by the NGO Global in parallel to the summit, the show will feature performances from stars such as Billie Eilish, Lenny Kravitz and H.E.R.
On Tuesday (20), Lula will meet in Rome with sociologist Domenico de Masi; and, on Wednesday, he will be received by the president of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, and Pope Francis, at the Vatican.
With the pope, Lula intends to “talk about the issue of peace (in Ukraine), and also about the issue of inequality” in the world.
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In his almost six months in office, Lula had 33 meetings with foreign leaders, one more than Bolsonaro had in his four years in government.
