Berlin, Aachen, 21 July 2025: The EU-Mercosur trade agreement would not only acutely endanger rainforests, biodiversity, climate and human rights, but also create a new right of action against the sustainability laws of the European Green Deal. This is the conclusion of a new study of Bread for the World, Misereor and PowerShift. The organisations call on the Federal Government and the European Parliament not to sign the present Treaty text. The agreement could be submitted for signature as early as the summer.
"The agreed bans on export restrictions and the dismantling of import duties unilaterally favour livestock farming, industrial sugar plantations and soy fields as well as mining in South America", summarises Thomas Fritz von PowerShift and author of the study. “It is precisely these sectors that are responsible in South America for the destruction of rainforests, dry savannahs, displacement of indigenous communities and pesticide poisoning. By contrast, they make little contribution to job creation, poverty reduction and sustainable economic development”. In the EU, too, the agreement is slowing down the socio-ecological transformation by facilitating the export of partly highly toxic pesticides and cars with internal combustion engines.
Heavy mortgage for climate and human rights
During the post-negotiations of the agreement between October 2022 and December 2024, the EU had sought stricter sustainability rules. However, the opposite has happened: "While the European Commission strongly defended tariff relief for its own industry, it also abandoned any claim to a sustainable trade policy," criticises Armin Paasch, Misereor expert on trade and human rights. "The agreement still does not provide for sanctions against sustainability breaches, but against EU sustainability targets." The newly created compensation mechanism gives Mercosur countries a right to compensation if EU laws such as the Deforestation Regulation should limit their trade benefits. “The EU would be permanently tied to climate action”.
According to the study, the agreement would harm the automotive, mechanical engineering, metal and textile industries in the Mercosur states. "This threatens further de-industrialisation, job destruction and more social inequality in South America, which has contributed significantly to the rise of right-wing populist parties, for example in Argentina and Brazil," warns Sven Hilbig, trade expert at Brot für die Welt. As a result of the elimination of import duties on 91 percent of all products, the impact assessment commissioned by the European Commission also expects industrial production in Mercosur to contract. "Partnership agreement" is therefore a label hoax for this agreement, which would only deepen the economic gap between the EU and Mercosur", says Hilbig.
Already in the summer, the EU Commission wants to present the agreement to the Member States. There is a risk of a procedural trick: The trade part could be spun off, bypassing national parliaments and allowing for a simple majority vote in the Council. This weakens democratic control. In addition, there is a risk that binding human rights and climate clauses will cease to exist, with the result that even in the case of the most serious infringements, the agreement could no longer be suspended.
The study can be found here: https://power-shift.de/eu-mercosur-abkommen-ante-portas/
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact:
- Thomas Fritz, PowerShift, thomas.fritz@power-shift.de, +49 (0)30 275 937 38
- Barbara Wiegard, Misereor, Barbara.Wiegard@misereor.de
- Prokop Bowtromiuk, Bread for the World, prokop.bowtromiuk@brot-fuer-die-welt.de
