Overview

• Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has assumed the six-month rotating presidency of Mercosur, succeeding Argentina’s Javier Milei.
• At the Buenos Aires summit, member states reaffirmed the strategic value of the EU-Mercosur free-trade agreement ahead of a ratification vote in Brussels expected this week.
• France, led by President Emmanuel Macron, is mobilizing a minority bloc to demand additional agricultural safeguards before approving the pact.
• Mercosur announced it has finalised a free-trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association countries Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland to broaden market access.
• Lula received judicial approval to visit former Argentine president Cristina Kirchner under house arrest, highlighting internal legal and political pressures in Argentina.