The South American Mercosur block advocated its accelerated commercial opening on Thursday at a summit in Buenos Aires. On the sidelines of the summit, the Brazilian Lula visited Cristina Kirchner, her political ally, and opponent of President Milei, owned at home.
Right after the summit, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva went mid-day to Mrs. Kirchner, in the Constitucion district, under the encouragement of a large hundred supporters of the former Peronist President (center-left). He came out almost an hour later, welcoming the crowd without declaring, AFP noted.
“I wished him all the force necessary to continue to fight, with the same determination which characterized his career,” wrote shortly after the Brazilian leader on the left on X.
Ms. Kirchner, 72, has been serving at home for three weeks for three weeks a sentence of six years in prison and ineligibility for life, after her conviction for fraudulent administration during her mandates (2007-2015). She said herself since the beginning victim of a “politico-judicial persecution”, to “ban it” from politics.
The Lula-Kirchner meeting did not fail to delight the star at the half-yearly summit of Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia), where Lula was the host of the Ultra-Beda Javier Milei: two heads of state with a notorious enmity, with political antipodes.
In 18 months of presidency Milei, the leaders of the two neighboring giants of South America had no bilateral encounters, although crossing many various forums.
And this avoidance continued on Thursday, apart from a furtive hug, the family photo of the summit, and one of M.Milei and M. Lula side by side, without the sketch of a smile.
Open elsewhere, waiting for the EU
The Mercosur Summit (Mercado Comun del Sur) was sticking to Brussels, where the future of free trade agreement is played out between the European Union and the South American Bloc.
The agreement signed at the end of 2024, after 25 years of negotiations, must still be ratified by European countries, against the backdrop of resistance, French in particular, linked to the risk perceived for certain European agricultural sectors.
Lula was “convinced” to sign him before the end of 2025, “creating one of the largest free trade zones in the world”, 722 million inhabitants.
But he also heard – and joined on this point – Milei’s call for more opening of Mercosur, a block of nearly 300 million inhabitants, to diversify his outlets, in a panorama transformed by the American trade war.
Mr. Milei warned his partners, urging them to “pro-commercial commercial liberty”, failing which Argentina will advance “alone” because it “cannot wait”.
In the past already, he threatened to leave Mercosur, which he considers a shackles,-an “iron curtain”, he repeated on Wednesday-in order to continue his hypothetical dream of a free trade agreement with the United States of his ally Donald Trump.
However, it was the action of Argentina in the heart of Mercosur that he rented Thursday, as a check -up of his rotating presidency.
Thus the agreement with the European Free Trade Association (AELE) which brings together Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, non-member of the EU. A finalized agreement was announced on Wednesday, the signature must take place in the coming months.
Mercosur countries have also announced an agreement on an increased list of products exempt from the common outdoor price of the block, he greeted. A “temporary” measure, to respond to the global tariff shock.
Mr. Milei said he hoped for the finalization in 2025 negotiations for a trade agreement with the Emirates, and mentioned negotiations with Salvador, Beintôt Le Panama.
Lula for his part has promised that his presidency of the block will progress in negotiations with Canada, and estimated “that it is time for Mercosur to look towards Asia”, citing Japan, China, Korea, India, Vietnam and Indonesia.
“It is a period of serious turbulence for multilateralism: the support of Mercosur and all of South America will be essential,” he said.
He stressed that climate change, energy transition, technological development and combating organized crime will be priorities of his presidency of the block.
On this point, the summit acted the implementation of a working group aimed at creating a “Mercosur agency against organized transnational crime”, which Mr. Milei said to hope for 2025.
This article was published automatically. Sources: ATS / AFP
