French President Emmanuel Macron begins a week-long visit to South America on Saturday, starting with the G20 summit in Brazil and continuing with stops in Argentina and Chile. Officially aimed at "relaunching cooperation" with the region, the trip also seeks to stall the unpopular Mercosur trade deal.
Macron will arrive in Argentina on Saturday to meet with his ultra-liberal counterpart, Javier Milei.
The French presidency said Macron will push for alignment on G20 priorities, including environmental and climate issues, at a time when the "international consensus” on these subjects is being called into question, particularly after the US election.
In Buenos Aires, Macron plans to deepen France’s partnership with Argentina in defence, energy transition and transport.
On Sunday, he will visit Santa Cruz Church to honour the 20 French citizens, including two nuns, who disappeared and were murdered during Argentina’s military dictatorship in the 1970s.
Stalling Mercosur
On Monday, the French president heads to Brazil for the two-day G20 summit, focusing on the fight against poverty, sustainable development and energy transition.
He will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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But the key issue for France is delaying the EU's free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries – Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
French farmers' unions on Monday will begin nationwide protests against the deal, which they insist risks putting them out of business by allowing cheaper food imports from Latin America that are not subjected to Europe's stricter health regulations.
The French government has voiced strong opposition to the deal.
Finance Minister Antoine Armand said on Thursday that the government was "employing all means, including institutional and voting at the European level, to ensure that Mercosur is not adopted in its current form".
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Michel Barnier told EU chief Ursula von der Leyen that the deal was "unacceptable for France".
Despite this, the majority of EU states appear keen to sign off on it by the end of the year.
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Shared values and history
On Wednesday and Thursday Macron heads to Chile to deliver a speech to parliament on relations with Latin America – 60 years after General de Gaulle's historic three-week visit to Latin America.
France's ambition is “to build new projects with a continent that shares its values and history”, noted the Elysée Palace, and to move forward on major global issues like the environment "to build together the economy of the future".
In the port city of Valparaiso, Macron will visit an icebreaker to discuss projects and initiatives that could be developed at the United Nations Ocean Conference in June 2025 in Nice on the French Riviera.
(with AFP)
