Lula guarantees the protection of Mercosur while Milei threatens to abandon it

Buenos AiresThe 66th Mercosur Presidential Summit took place this Thursday in Buenos Aires, during one of the blog's most uncertain times. Brazil and Argentina, the region's two largest economies, have differing views on the organization's purpose and usefulness. The meeting of heads of state in Buenos Aires highlighted the well-known differences between Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei, who has passed on the six-month presidency of the blog to him.

The summit was Lula's first official visit to Argentina. since Milei is president:Without any bilateral meetings, the meeting between the two presidents was strictly protocolary.

The Southern Common Market was founded 34 years ago by Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay, and Bolivia joined as a full-fledged state in 2023. Milei has always expressed his opposition to multilateral organizations—from Mercosur to the G-20, and even the United Nations—which he accuses of being inefficient and promoting "socialist" agendas.

In this case, and as host, he began the summit with a harsh discourse against the current functioning of Mercosur: he stated that, over the years, the bloc—which he called the "iron curtain"—has overstepped its trade protectionism, thus harming economies. Furthermore, he accused the bloc of dragging along an "elephantine bureaucratic structure," creating a Mercosur that has "curtailed economic freedoms and deprived the region's private sectors of opportunities."

However, it has signed the new Free Trade Agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA, a grouping comprising Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway) and which will create a free trade area of almost 300 million people with a GDP.

Trade openness and flexibility

Along these lines, Milei urged the next temporary presidency of Mercosur, that of Brazil, to continue with the proposals for trade openness and flexibility initiated by the Argentine leadership. He asked the blog's members for continuity in deregulation policies and warned that, if not, the "sol" will do so.

Milei has been talking for some time about establishing a free trade agreement with the United States, an idea unrealizable under the current terms of Mercosur, which they negotiate as a bloc. "We must stop thinking of Mercosur as a shield that protects us from the world and start thinking of it as a spear that allows us to effectively penetrate global markets," he said.

Immediately afterward, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva began his speech by speaking of Mercosur as a "refuge" and a "house with solid foundations, capable of withstanding the force of the elements." Lula referred to an "unstable and threatening world" and guaranteed that his presidency of the blog will serve to "reflect on the place we aspire to occupy on the new global stage" and to "protect our space of autonomy in an increasingly polarized context." He praised the usefulness of the common external tariff in a context of trade war, as well as the "institutional robustness" that accredits the members as reliable partners worldwide. In this regard, he referred to the Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, which he "trusts" to be definitively concluded by the end of this year.

The Brazilian agreed with Milei on the urgent need to combat organized crime and drug trafficking in the region, with the creation, at Argentina's initiative, of the Agency against Transnational Organized Crime. Lula also spoke about energy transition, artificial intelligence, and human rights, and finally, he dedicated a few words to the late Pope Francis and former Uruguayan President Pepe Mujica, "two great figures" in the region and "exceptional human beings" whom Brazil intends to "honor" during its Mercosur presidency.

Lula visits Fernández de Kirchner

At the end of the summit, Lula immediately went to the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Constitución, escorted by a large security force, where he visited former Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who Since June 17, he has been under house arrest, convicted of corruption. Expectations for the meeting between the two leaders were high, given that Lula was also imprisoned for corruption, and the court later overturned his sentence, arguing that his rights had not been respected during the trial.

Outside Kirchner's home, several dozen people with Brazilian and Workers' Party (PT) flags awaited the arrival of their neighboring president. "It's symbolic that Lula is visiting Cristina today," Carmen, 65, told ARA. "They're both persecuted for the same reason: because they are the people, and because they take care of the workers."