Brazil's Lula calls for 'common sense' negotiations on EU-Mercosur trade pact

FILE PHOTO: Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gestures before the summit with presidents of South America to discuss the re-launching of the regional cooperation bloc UNASUR, in Brasilia, Brazil, May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File Photo

(Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday urged the European Union and the Mercosur to set aside arrogance and negotiate the long-awaited trade agreement between the blocs with common sense.

"It's important to remember that we need the EU and they need us very much. So it's important that we put a little bit of arrogance aside and we try to use common sense for us to negotiate. And that goes for us and that goes for them," Lula said to journalists in Paris.