In all the photos, Lula da Silva and Emmanuel Macron appear arm in arm, hand in hand or with a big smile. On Thursday, both showed
their agreement on the major international issues
, the topic of Macron's last day of visit to the country after having talked about ecology, defense, economy and...
Venezuela.
It was a visit that concluded by recognizing the extensive partnership and
"diplomatic intimacy" between both countries.
Condemns Venezuela
Lula raised his tone for the first time before the Venezuelan Government of Nicolás Maduro by calling
the exclusion of the main
opposition candidate in the presidential elections "serious. "
"There is no legal or political explanation" why he could not do it, said the leftist, who said he was "surprised" by the news.
Macron, for his part, "very firmly condemned the exclusion of a serious and credible candidate"
and urged to "restore" her the possibility of participating in the elections. Corina Yoris could not access the registration system that was blocked, according to the main opposition coalition, Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), which managed to register another provisional candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia.
The President of France Emmanuel Macron and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva greet each other during a ceremony at the Planalto Palace. Photo: EFE
The foreign ministries of Brazil and Colombia this week expressed "concern" about the development of the Venezuelan electoral process. Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Lula
are seen as close to the Maduro government.
Venezuela reacted
by calling them "interferencers"
. Lula said that Brazil will try to "observe" these elections. "I want them to be celebrated like we do in Brazil: with everyone's participation."
Tuning even in the networks
Macron and Lula showed great harmony during the visit, with
the publication of photographs of both smiling
or holding hands that even became the subject of memes, being compared to a couple in love.
The French president himself made reference to the jokes, which went viral on the networks. "Some compared the images of my visit to those of a wedding, I tell them: It was!
France loves Brazil and Brazil loves France!
" he wrote in X.
Macron and Lula showed great harmony during the visit. Photo: Ludovic Marin/ AFP
The French president accompanied his publication with a screenshot of a photomontage that replaces the actors Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling on the poster for the romantic film Lalaland, with the two heads of state walking hand in hand.
Certains ont compared the images of my visit to Brésil to celles d'un mariage, je leur dis: c'en était un ! La France aime le Brésil et le Brésil aime la France!
Merci, cher @LulaOficial, chère @JanjaLula, merci à tous les Brésiliens que j'ai pu rencontrer, pour votre accueil.… pic.twitter.com/cXfeEuYXBQ
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) March 28, 2024
This was the first visit by a French president to Brazil in 11 years.
A single issue in contention: Mercosur
The agreement between the European Union and Mercosur was the only issue that did not bring them closer.
In a meeting with businessmen, Macron buried the agreement by describing it as "terrible, very bad and obsolete" and that a new one must be made, since it does not contemplate environmental issues.
The treaty "as negotiated today
is a very bad agreement,
for you and for us," Macron said. "Let's build a new agreement (...) that is responsible from the point of view of development, climate and biodiversity," he defended.
The draft treaty, whose discussions began in 1999, aims to eliminate most customs duties between the two zones, creating
an area of more than 700 million consumers
. After reaching a political agreement in 2019, several countries, including France, blocked its adoption, an opposition that has been accentuated by the agricultural crisis that is devastating Europe.
With information from AFP and RFI