Talks on a big trade agreement between the 27 EU countries and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – known as the Mercosur bloc – wrapped up in 2019 but a number of factors have stalled progress.
The biggest hurdle has proved to be Brazil’s incumbent far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro, who refused to make any compromises on environmental protections. EU governments have declined to ratify the deal until safeguards are put in place.
Bolsonaro also decided to make the issue personal when he insulted the wife of French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, who was one of the main voices calling for anti-deforestation clauses to be written into the Mercosur deal.
Record logging in the Amazon rainforest last year and news that the carbon sink has become an emitter of carbon dioxide does not sit well with Europeans and, by extension, their governments.
But Bolsonaro looks likely to be toppled by voters in October, as former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva commands...