{"id":7253,"date":"2021-06-21T08:11:20","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T08:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greens-efa.eu\/dossier\/?p=7253"},"modified":"2021-09-23T12:23:44","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T12:23:44","slug":"why-we-need-to-oppose-the-eu-mercosur-trade-deal-to-protect-sustainable-agriculture-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greens-efa.eu\/dossier\/why-we-need-to-oppose-the-eu-mercosur-trade-deal-to-protect-sustainable-agriculture-in-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we need to oppose the EU-Mercosur trade deal to protect sustainable agriculture in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lire cet article en fran\u00e7ais<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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21.06.2021<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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An opinion by Anna Cavazzini<\/a> and Yannick Jadot, Greens\/EFA MEPs<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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The EU’s proposed trade deal with Brazil,\nArgentina, Paraguay and Uruguay offers no assurances that imported products\nwill comply with our environmental or food safety standards. The EU-Mercosur\nagreement will be a disaster for sustainable agriculture, for the European\nGreen Deal and for people on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Chapada dos Guimar\u00e3es, Brazil \/ CC0 joao-tzanno<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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Negotiations on the\nEU\u2019s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) ground to a halt in May, as the main\nEuropean decision-makers came to an impasse. The European Council lacked\nambition on meaningful environmental action. This failure was unacceptable to\nthe European Parliament, and rightly so: if the Council had its way, aid for\norganic farming would be significantly reduced and very few environmental terms\nand conditions would be placed on how the money is distributed. The CAP would\nactively undermine the environmental aims of the European Green Deal. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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The big blind spot in\nthe reform of the EU\u2019s agricultural model, however, is international free\ntrade. The EU-Mercosur trade deal, for instance, would have devastating\nconsequences on European agriculture.  <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Illegally logging site on Pirititi indigenous amazon lands on May 8, 2018 \n\nby quapan (CC BY 2.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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What is the EU-Mercosur trade agreement and\nhow will it harm the environment?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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EU-Mercosur is a trade\nagreement between the European Union and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and\nUruguay – collectively known as the Mercosur countries. It was finalised in\n2019, but has not yet been ratified by the European Parliament or the 27 EU\nMember States. The deal will mean beef imports to the EU will go up by 99,000\ntonnes. Poultry imports will rise by 180,000 tonnes and sugar by 180,000\ntonnes. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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These massive imports\nthreaten to increase intensive agriculture in the Mercosur region by growing\nmonocultures and multiplying factory farms. Land will be deforested to expand\nagricultural and livestock production. \nThe expanded beef quota alone is expected to lead to 25% more\ndeforestation each year. It is now beyond doubt that deforestation is an\nimportant factor in the increase of zoonotic diseases, like COVID-19. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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The deal will further\nthe destruction of the Amazon rainforest and will have dramatic consequences on\nthe environment.  The people of Mercosur\nwill also be affected, especially indigenous people who may well be displaced\nfrom their land. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Black and brown cows in a field\/ CC0 etienne-girardet<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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How could the EU-Mercosur trade deal influence\nEuropean agriculture?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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The development of\nthis harmful ultra-intensive agriculture in the Mercosur countries will\nundoubtedly have dramatic repercussions on European agriculture as well. The\nagreement has no enforceable rules requiring products coming into the EU to comply\nwith European environmental and social standards. There are doubts about\nwhether the EU\u2019s own high health and food safety standards will be enforced for\nproducts going out of Europe either.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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This could be\nproblematic in many ways. For example, Brazil is the world’s largest consumer\nof pesticides. Many of the pesticides used in its agriculture are banned in the\nEU. By signing the EU-Mercosur agreement, the EU implicitly signs up for beef\nraised in deplorable conditions on deforested land, and for sugar doped with\nhighly toxic pesticides. In return, the EU increases exports of machines and\nchemicals – including the same pesticides which are banned in the EU but used\nin some Mercosur countries. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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The agreement poses\nreal risks to consumer health. It promotes an economic and agricultural model\nthat fails to meet the EU’s own environmental goals for biodiversity protection\nand climate neutrality. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Wind turbines in a field\/ CC0 raimond-klavins<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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How would the EU-Mercosur trade agreement\naffect the European market?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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By accepting the\nMercosur deal, the EU would create an unfair playing field for European\nproducers. The agreement will flood the market with high value beef cuts –\nclose to 30% of the EU\u2019s total production – that will have been produced under\nconditions far less favourable to the environment than those produced in the\nEU. These cuts – the most valuable – will be sold at low prices, resulting in\nunfair competition with European farmers. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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This presents yet\nanother obstacle for farmers wishing to move towards a more sustainable\nagriculture model. Their profitability would be threatened simply because their\nproducts would not be able to compete with those imported from South America.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Carrots\/ CC0 markus-spiske<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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The EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement is not just nor sustainable. This is why we have to #StopEUMercosur<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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To safeguard\nagriculture, farmers and consumer health, the EU-Mercosur agreement would need\nto include mirror clauses, <\/em>requiring\nall European standards to apply to products imported from the Mercosur\ncountries. This is particularly necessary for curbing pesticide use and\ndefending animal welfare. It goes without saying that the EU must stop\nmarketing pesticides and fertilisers that are not even allowed in its own\nsingle market. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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It is too late for any\nadditional agreement to meet these demands or make the EU-Mercosur deal\nanything but a disadvantage for agriculture and farmers. The only way forward\nis to reopen the agreement. We need a new mandate so that we can apply binding\nand effective mirror clauses.  <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Reforming the CAP\nremains a priority for developing sustainable agriculture in the EU, but the EU\nmust open its eyes to the devastating impacts of free trade agreements that are\nincompatible with fighting climate change.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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There is still time to oppose the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. Help us call on the EU Member States to be honest about the disastrous consequences of this deal for producers and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. Follow our campaign and sign the newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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\ud83d\udc49#stopEUmercosur <\/strong>\ud83d\udc48<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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