00:00Joining me this morning in the studio is Brazil's ambassador to the EU, Pedro Miguel da Costa Silva.
00:05Good morning, ambassador.
00:06Good morning.
00:07Really great to have you here with us on Europe Today.
00:09Let me start with EU-Mercosur, because I know you were very critical in the past of the political campaigning
00:15here in Europe against this deal.
00:17Now it's here, it's in effect. How much of a moment is this?
00:21Well, it's a fantastic time to be in Brussels. Now, finally, we have the agreement.
00:28And my hope is that all the noise that surrounded this deal will go away progressively as the deal kicks
00:37in and the benefits kick in.
00:39And also people realise that all that was said about the deal is not actually true, the bad things.
00:44Yet it has been referred to the EU's top course. Do you fear that the noise could come back then?
00:48Well, we have to respect the internal procedures of the EU, but I am very confident that the court will
00:56rule that it's perfectly in line with the legal agreements of the EU, and then it will be up to
01:03the parliament.
01:04There are obviously still concerns amongst farmers, the farming community.
01:09And we have heard in recent days concerns that maybe the quotas that apply to products like beef will only
01:17benefit these big corporations, big agribusinesses in Brazil.
01:21How would you respond to that?
01:23Well, I think that the European farmers are going to have a lot of benefits with this agreement.
01:29Nobody talks about this, so I think it needs to be recalled.
01:32And the other thing is that the participation that we have in this market, both Brazil and the other Mercosur
01:38countries, is complementary to EU agriculture.
01:42It's coffee, it's soybeans, products that are inputs for European farming and for European industries.
01:50So I think there's a lot of disinformation going on.
01:53On the issue of the quotas, the quotas are managed by both sides.
01:57So I think the EU has a lot of experience.
02:01I see no problem there, and I think people are going to realize they come in progressively.
02:06We have quotas on our side, too, because we also have sensitive products in the Mercosur side.
02:12So I think people are finding new things to talk about and make noise.
02:16Maybe the noise should just quiet down and we could move on with real life and the benefits of the
02:21agreement.
02:22And Ambassador, I have to ask you about the broader politics behind this and the broader global politics,
02:27because some would say that this deal really came as a response to this kind of new world order that
02:34President Trump and the White House is trying to impose.
02:37Would you say that that's true?
02:40I would say that the deal was built on multilateralism, on the idea of cooperation, on the idea of dialogue,
02:47of working together.
02:48So it's a very strong signal about what the Mercosur countries and Europe stand for.
02:53So that would be my response.
02:55Yet multilateralism is in decline.
02:57We're living in a very different world.
02:59I know that your president, Lula da Silva, was recently in Spain, also visited Germany,
03:03but was in attendance at this big conference of left-wing leaders in Spain with Prime Minister Sánchez.
03:11Do you see that as this kind of response to Trump, as this hedge against the new world that Trump
03:17is trying to impose?
03:18I think that for countries like mine, rules are fundamental.
03:23We helped building them together with European countries and with the United States,
03:28and we're going to stand by them because rules are fundamental to organized international life.
03:34So it's not a question of politics, it's a question of the long run.
03:42And on that to close, what you just said there reminded me a little bit of what Mark Carney was
03:47saying yesterday
03:47when he attended the European political community in Armenia.
03:50He said that when the international order is rebuilt, that he believes it will be rebuilt out of Europe.
03:56Do you agree?
03:57And does that mean that Brazil could look to join such fora and work closely with European nations?
04:03I think that if we're going to rebuild something, it has to be rebuilt by everybody.
04:08Europe will have an important place at the table, but you'll need to have all other voices speaking.
04:14If you want a really functioning and durable new order, it needs to take everybody's views into account.
04:21So I think that Europe has a place, but I'm not convinced that it will be built from here.
04:27It has to be built from all different places.
04:30Okay, Ambassador, thank you so much.
04:32It was a pleasure to have you in the studio with us this morning.
04:34We hope to see you again.
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