Lula's visit to Madrid: differences over Ukraine and good harmony with the EU-Mercosur agreement

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, revealed this Wednesday in Madrid

with Europe on how to end the war in Ukraine, but he was in tune with Pedro Sánchez to conclude

Lula, criticized by Westerners for considering his position towards Moscow lukewarm, insisted this Wednesday in Madrid that Russia and Ukraine have to negotiate peace and that "it is useless to say who is right" in the war they are waging.

"Nobody can have any doubt that

," he said, lowering his tone to a rhetoric very close to Moscow, from the previous days.

Lula da Silva delivers a speech during the lunch offered by the kings at the Royal Palace in Madrid.

EFE

"The mistake happened, the war started," Lula said at a news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez during a two-day visit to Spain.

It was not clear what he called

The invasion of Moscow or the events that led Moscow to justify its invasion?

He continued: "Now it is useless to say who is right, who is wrong. Now what you have to do is stop the war," Lula added, expressing his frustration at how little talk is said about peace.

"There is no one who says peace, except me, who shouts peace as if I were alone in the desert," said the Brazilian leader, who visited Portugal before Madrid.

The Brazilian dispatched himself in this way almost at the same time that Xi Jinping called his Ukrainian counterpart Volodimir Zelenski to ask him to start peace negotiations with Moscow because "there are no winners in a nuclear war."

Since his visit to China a few days ago, Lula adopted an alignment with the speech of Beijing and Moscow that

Sanchez

's response

Sánchez asked to keep in mind that the conflict

, in February 2022.

"In this war,

: the aggressor is (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and the victim, in this case, is a people who only fight for territorial integrity, for their national sovereignty. and for their freedom," he said.

Lula has clashed with the United States, Europe and Ukraine after accusing the United States of

and asking the EU to "start talking about peace" after meeting with Xi on April 14.

He had previously maintained that the responsibilities for the war unleashed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022

The United States was quick to accuse him of

and Ukraine encouraged him to visit the country to understand "the real causes and essence" of the war.

The EU-Mercosur agreement

in 2023

, respectively, to close once and for all the trade agreement between the two blocs, paralyzed since 2019 due to resistance from some European countries.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez greets the President of Brazil.

Photo: EFE

"As you know, Brazil is going to preside over Mercosur in the second half of this year, coinciding with the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union," Sánchez recalled.

"I think this coincidence of both presidencies represents an extraordinary opportunity to try to

," added the Spanish leader, recalling that Spain "maintains a firm commitment to advance in the ratification of this important trade agreement."

With the Spanish presidency of the EU, which starts on July 1, "we may have

," he added.

lunch with kings

"Someone has to close it," declared Lula, to whom King Felipe VI offered an honorary lunch at the Zarzuela palace, after which he will return to Brazil.

King Felipe and the president of Brazil before the lunch held in honor of the Brazilian president.

Photo: EFE

In 2019,

between the EU and Mercosur after more than 20 years of difficult negotiations.

But

partly due to concerns in Europe over the environmental policies of former Brazilian President

However, the tone has changed with the return to power of the leftist Lula and, earlier this year, the vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, said that the EU hoped to

However, several European countries,

remain reluctant, and French President Emmanuel Macron warned in late February that the agreement "would not be possible" if the Mercosur countries did not respect

as the Europeans.

European farmers fear more South American agricultural products will enter the market, claiming they have less stringent production standards.

For example, unlike the EU, Brazil

growth promoters in animal feed.

Alfons Luna is a journalist for the AFP agency

ap

look also

Notions of realism: the war in Ukraine will not alienate Brazil from the United States

Tour of Europe: Lula was booed by the extreme right in the Portuguese Parliament before traveling to Spain