France and Ireland withdraw support for EU-Mercosur agreement

The fires in Amazonia and the inaction of the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, have already hit the international agenda. France and Ireland have withdrawn their support to the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur and Germany has asked to bring the case to the G7 summit.

French President, Emmanuel Macron, announced Friday that he was withdrawing its support for the trade agreement that the EU has signed with the Mercosur countries because of Brazil's ongoing violations of its environmental commitments. .

According to international agencies, the office of the French head of state said in a statement that it had become clear that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had lied to world leaders about his commitment to fighting climate change at this year's G20 summit. Osaka, Japan

In these circumstances, the president can not support the ratification of the trade agreement reached in June, according to the statement.

"Given Brazil's attitude in recent weeks, the President of the Republic notes that President Bolsonaro lied to him at the Osaka (G20) summit," said the French presidency, who regretted that "President Bolsonaro has decided to respect your climate commitments or" biodiversity "." In these conditions, France is opposed to the agreement of Mercosur (with the EU) in the current state of affairs ", he added.

Minutes later, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar joined the group. "Ireland will not vote in favor of the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement if Brazil does not respect its environmental commitments," he said in a statement.

The fires that have spread in the Amazon, one of the main green lungs of planet Earth, have become this week's focus of news and a major diplomatic topic, before the G7 summit that celebrates this weekend in Biarritz (south-west of France). Macron himself asked Thursday that the issue be addressed in the G7. Bolsonaro responded by accusing his French counterpart on Thursday of acting with "the colonialist mentality" for inviting summit members – to which Brazil is not involved – to discuss the issue.

Our house burns. Literally The Amazon rainforest – the lungs that produce 20% of the oxygen on our planet – is on fire. It's an international crisis. G7 Summit members, let's discuss this first urgent order in two days! #ActForTheAmazon pic.twitter.com/dogOJj9big

– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 22, 2019

Bolsonaro's response was not long in coming and he accused the French president of using forest fires to gain personal political gain.

"I regret that President Macron is seeking to exploit an internal affair of Brazil and other Amazonian countries in order to obtain personal political advantages," Bolsonaro said.

– O Brazilian Government according to the dialogue, based on objective objectives and not respecting itself. At the suggestion of the French president, the fact that the subjects of the Amazon sejam do not discuss the G7 with participation in two countries in the region, evokes a mentality of uncategorized colonialism not known in the twenty-first century.

– Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) August 22, 2019

"The French president's proposal that Amazonian issues be discussed in the G7 without the participation of the countries of the region, evokes a colonial mentality that no longer exists in the twenty-first century," added the Brazilian president.

Macron was however not the only one to have evoked the fires that devastated the Amazon. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokeswoman Steffen Seibert said her boss was supporting the French

"The magnitude of the fires is worrying and threatening not only for Brazil and other affected countries, but also for the world," he said.

The "situation is urgent" should be discussed this weekend at the G7 summit, he said.

According to data released this week by the National Institute of Space Research (INPE), the Amazon region has recorded more than half of the 71,497 forest fires detected in Brazil between January and August this year, a higher figure of 83% to that of the same period. of 2018.

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