CSOs criticise EU governments' approval of Mercosur trade deal, citing social, human rights & environmental concerns
'EU leaders approve toxic EU-Mercosur deal amid dissent'
Today, in an unprecedented vote, a qualified majority of EU countries approved the toxic EU-Mercosur trade deal despite 25 years of dissent from civil society groups, farmers’ organisations and trade unions. This is the first time an EU trade agreement has been passed without consent of all member States, overruling objections from major European countries such as France and Poland. The European Trade Justice Coalition strongly condemns the outright refusal by the European Commission and European governments to consider the widespread concern over the deal’s impacts for agriculture, health, workers and the climate. A choice made even more reckless in a context of growing anti-European sentiment.
Jean Blaylock, coordinator of the European Trade Justice Coalition, said:
“European leaders are choosing to prioritise profits for big business, even if it means harming everyone else. By signing this deal, they threaten the livelihoods of workers and small-scale and family farmers on both sides of the Atlantic, violate Indigenous rights, poison people and destroy nature.”
The EU Council’s vote comes in an exceptionally untransparent and confusing process where numerous procedural exceptions were made...
Frances Verkamp, trade campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, commented:
“The European Commission is playing a game of imperial dominance in global trade with China and the US that wins nothing for workers or consumers – and even less for nature and climate. This deal is all-round toxic and EU leaders will rue the day they signed it.”
Jan Königshausen, advisor for Indigenous People from the Society for Threatened Peoples, added:
“By prioritizing market access over human rights, the EU–Mercosur agreement risks worsening the situation of Indigenous Peoples and marginalized communities in South America. It externalizes environmental destruction, social conflict, and violence to those who have contributed least to these crises, while offering them little protection or voice.”
Past studies have found that the EU-Mercosur agreement will lead to a loss of 120.000 jobs in Europe, drastically increase greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation, and weaken indigenous and workers’ rights. It cannot be a solution to today’s climate crisis, recession or geopolitical tension...
Additionally, the proposed agricultural “safeguards” are insufficient to prevent harm to struggling smallholder farmers, who face multiple pressures from global liberalisation and other free-trade agreements under negotiation.
The deal is expected to be signed by EU Commission President von der Leyen later this week and then still needs to be ratified by the European Parliament.