09.12.2025, Berlin: In its meeting tomorrow, the Federal Cabinet will decide on the approval of the highly controversial EU-Mercosur trade agreement. This would clear the way for a yes from Germany. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz had already announced that he would do so at the latest at the next and last Council meeting this year, on 18 and 19. December, I want to announce.
Bettina Müller from PowerShift comments:
“Should the Federal Government vote in favour of the trade agreement, this would be a fatal signal. It would make it clear once again what interests it represents. This will benefit the German car industry, which will be able to resell combustion engines that are no longer registered in the EU from 2035 onwards on the South American market; and chemical companies, such as Bayer and BASF, which can export pesticides to Mercosur even more cheaply with the agreement. Environmental and climate protection, human rights, the protection of consumers, good jobs, healthy European agriculture, all this would be subordinated to the profit-seeking of German corporations.”
The German government would also ignore the numerous voices criticising the agreement for its imbalance and the expected negative environmental and social consequences. These include not only governments such as the Polish and French governments, but also the European and the South American Federation of Trade Unions, the German Farmers' Association, Various European Farmers' Associations, the European Consumer Protection Association And last but not least, about 400 civil society organisations on both sides of the Atlantic. Just a few weeks ago, they also turned 50 German civil society organisations to the German Government, demanding that the trade agreement not be approved by the European Council.
Ludwig Essig, coordinator of the Just World Trade Network, added:
"The renewed postponement of the EU Deforestation Regulation and the recall of Brazilian hormone meat show clearly that the concerns of European farmers are justified. However, the European Commission's responses remain completely inadequate: Neither do they prevent imports of hormone meat, nor do they stop deforestation in Mercosur. On the contrary: EU-Mercosur would further narrow farmland and fuel the destruction of the Amazon.”
Press contact:
Bettina Müller, Trade and Investment Policy Officer at PowerShift e.V., bettina.mueller@power-shift.de, 0174 4537604
Ludwig Essig Coordinator Network of Fair World Trade Advisor for Trade Policy at the Munich Environmental Institute, essig@forumue.de, 176 546 752 53
