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French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to oppose an EU trade pact with South American bloc Mercosur is “not the right response” to tackling the Amazon fires in Brazil, the German government said Friday.
“Failing to conclude the Mercosur agreement would not contribute to reducing the clearing of the rainforest in Brazil,” a German government spokesman told AFP.
“The magnitude of the fires is alarming and we are ready to support Brazil in its efforts to quickly overcome this serious crisis,” he added.
Macron is leading international pressure on Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro over the fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, telling him Paris would block the major trade deal.
The free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), signed in late June after 20 years of negotiations, has been widely criticised, particularly by the agricultural sector and environmentalists.
France conditioned its validation of the agreement on Brazil’s compliance with certain environmental commitments that were discussed during the G20 summit in Japan.
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