EU – Mercosur: An outdated agreement
The EU-Mercosur agreement is part of an outdated 20th century trade policy that is destroying the planet: It serves corporate interests and comes at the expense of planetary boundaries, unsustainable social inequality and animal welfare.
Priority for Group Interests
The objectives and core elements of this agreement are in direct contradiction with climate protection, food sovereignty and respect for human rights and animal welfare. The FTA will further promote the destruction and collapse of the biodiversity of the Amazon, Cerrado and Gran Chaco through the expansion of livestock and ethanol quotas, and will continue an extractive farming model characterised by overgrazing, the expansion of fattening farms and chemically intensive monocultures. It would be a devastating political signal that horrific human rights violations related to the supply chains laid out in this agreement are acceptable.
The trade agreement will destroy livelihoods in both Europe and South America and bring smallholder families and workers to their knees. It increases trade in agricultural commodities on the one hand and trade in polluting cars on the other, and therefore poses a direct threat to jobs in Mercosur countries. It continues the path dependence of South American economies as cheap exporters of raw materials extracted from the destruction of vital natural resources, rather than fostering the development of healthy, diversified and resilient economies.
Sustainable trade policy is different
For a bright future, a 21st century trading model must serve efforts to create socially just and environmentally resilient societies based on the principles of solidarity, the protection of human rights and our planetary borders, rather than undermining them. Citizens across Europe and South America join forces against the EU-Mercosur agreement and work for a better future. We, the signatory organisations, are part of this movement calling on governments to stop the EU-Mercosur agreement!
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