Stop the EU-Mercosur Trade Deal
Anna CAVAZZINI, Greens-EFA member of the trade committee in charge of the EU-Mercosur file and Chair of the IMCO committee comments:
“The farmers' protests throughout Europe are directed against a broken agricultural system that has been worsening for decades. This includes pressure from cheaper imported agricultural products that do not meet our social, farming and sustainability standards. That is why it is mocking when other political groups, such as the conservatives but also most of the Liberals and Socialists, are still calling for rapid ratification of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, which will only increase the pressure on our farmers, among other detrimental consequences.
European farmers are the collateral victims of policies pursued for decades by parties in power bogged down in an unfair economic model which has exacerbated social disparities, the problem of low remuneration of farmers and the environmental crisis.”
Saskia BRICMONT, Greens-EFA member of the trade committee in charge of the EU-Mercosur file comments:
“Our Group has been opposing the EU-MERCOSUR dinosaur agreement as it goes against the European general interest but also the European Green Deal which has not even entered into force yet. It does not even respond to the challenges faced by the population of the four Latin American countries like poverty and inequality, gender discrimination, weakness of the labour markets, etc. Moreover it lacks enforceable sustainability provisions, and will lead to increased deforestation in the Mercosur countries.
Our Group calls not only on the Commission to put a lid on the negotiations, but to cease pursuing this deal and seek a new approach to strengthen relations with the Mercosur countries and pursue the sustainable development goals. We expect heads of state to deliver without delay clear guidelines to the Commission in this regard, in line with the European Parliament’s position expressed in October 2020.
Our Group also expects that in case EU leaders persisted with this deal, they remind the Commission that the agreement must go through the previously agreed upon democratic process of national parliamentary ratification.”
More:
Blog : https://www.greens-efa.eu/opinions/eu-mercosur-trade-deal-a-setback-for-people-and-planet/
Study on the EU-Mercosur trade deal's impact on agriculture: https://extranet.greens-efa.eu/public/media/file/1/8401
Poll on concerns from business on the deal: https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/article/opinion/european-businesses-have-concerns-about-the-eu-mercosur-deal-new-yougov-poll-shows
