“Brazil is back”. It is the message that Lula da Silva has brought to La Moncloa. A message that Spain celebrates, after four years of a hibernated relationship under the mandate of Jair Bolsonaro. An important strategic association for both countries is resumed in economic matters, in the fight against climate change… In fact, both leaders have shown their confidence that the EU-Mercosur agreement can be signed throughout this year, which has reluctance from European countries like France. Harmony, hugs… but differences regarding the war. Brazil criticizes the shipment of arms to Ukraine and points out that kyiv and Moscow should decide who owns Crimea and Donbas.
“This visit marks the beginning of a new stage in our bilateral relations. We renew a strategic association and we do so convinced that from the unity of action that we have we can contribute a lot to the well-being of our citizens”, said Pedro Sánchez, after a meeting in La Moncloa between both and the delegations of both countries.
“That Brazil that we used to see as strong disappeared for six years. But we are here to achieve new alliances. We are going to convince Brazilian businessmen to invest in Spain and for the Spanish to do so in our country”, has been the commitment of the Brazilian president, who has been very grateful for the support he has always received from Spain, who goes back to his time as a union leader when he was received by Felipe González.
Spain and Brazil consider that a new stage of understanding and deepening in economic investments can be opened – the purpose of the Executive is for Brazilian investments in Spain to increase considerably. For this reason, the first thing Lula did on his visit to Spain was to participate in an economic forum on Tuesday. The EU-Mercosur agreement is one of the main concerns and occupations of both leaders. Brazil will preside over Mercosur in the second half of this year, and Spain will assume the rotating presidency of the EU on the same dates. The purpose of both is to make progress and overcome the reluctance of European partners.
On June 28, 2019, the EU and Mercosur reached an agreement in principle to have an Association Agreement, which will include three pillars: political dialogue, cooperation and trade. But since then it has been pending ratification since it was paralyzed by the opposition of European countries to the deforestation of the Amazon. Now they want to boost again.
Where there are differences, “nuances”, as Sánchez has recognized. Spain’s position is as follows: there is an aggressor and a victim. And the search for peace must be the backbone, or at least be an important part, of the plan that Zelenski proposes. “We must respect the fundamental principles of international law and the United Nations Charter. Territorial integrity and the international order based on rules, without forgetting that there is an aggressor, Putin, and an attacked people who fight for their freedom and territorial integrity,” Sánchez has exposed.
Asked specifically about whether Crimea and Donbas, Ukrainian territories occupied by Putin, are Ukrainian or Russian, Lula da Silva said that it should be the countries involved in the war who decide. “It’s not me who has to decide whose it is. It’s not me who is going to debate. It’s the Russians and the Ukrainians. First they have to stop the war and then we start talking. Debating the territory of Crimea or the NATO are things that are the responsibility of these countries.”
The Brazilian president did want to make it clear that Brazil “from the beginning condemned the territorial occupation of Ukraine” but also that “we do not have to go fueling this war”, alluding to the shipment of weapons from NATO countries to Ukraine to contribute to its defense and combat against Russia. In fact, he has indicated that he gave the order “not to sell arms”, “Brazil does not want to enter a war, it wants to enter a war of peace. That is the condition of Brazil.” A position, that of Lula, which in Spain is shared by Unidas Podemos, which has come out against the shipment of arms and has harshly criticized the PSOE, going so far as to describe it as a “war party”, but not with La Moncloa , which is committed to sending arms and supplying military equipment to the Ukrainians.
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