Opposing the EU-Mercosur free trade deal is not an appropriate response to the Amazon fires, a German government spokesman has said, as quoted by AFP.
"Failing to conclude the Mercosur agreement would not contribute to reducing the clearing of the rainforest in Brazil," he told the agency.
Previously, the office of French President Emmanuel Macron accused Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro of lying about Brazil's climate at the G20 meeting in Osaka in June. During talks with Bolsonaro at the Osaka summit, Macron expressed concerns over the growing rate of deforestation in the Amazon and urged his Brazilian counterpart not to quit the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
"Given the attitude of Brazil over the last weeks, the president can only conclude that President Bolsonaro lied to him at the Osaka (G20) summit" in June, a French presidential official said.
In a statement on Friday, Macron's office also said that France would oppose the Mercosur trade deal between the EU and South American countries, which is facing opposition from several members of the European bloc.
Mercosur is a trade bloc of four Latin American economies – Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay with a combined population of 250 million, accounting for over 75 per cent of South American GDP.
The wildfires in the Amazon rain forest have drawn international attention. According to satellite data provided by the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, this year, the wildfire area increased by 82 per cent compared to 2018.
