Campaign launch: Prevent toxic trade – stop EU-Mercosur agreements!
Berlin, 19 June: Under the motto ‘Preventing Fair Trade – Stop EU-Mercosur Agreements!’, organisations from the Just World Trade Network are organising a high-profile kick-off campaign to launch a Europe-wide campaign against the planned EU-Mercosur trade agreement. Further actions will take place in Brussels and Vienna. In Berlin, the motto is visualized in a strong action image, well suited for photo and film recordings.
When: Tuesday, 24.06.2025, 11:00 am
Where: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Invalidenstraße 48, Berlin
The reason for the campaign is the announcement by the European Commission that the final agreement will be sent to the governments of the member countries before the end of the month. The agreement is due to be submitted to the Council of the European Union for ratification in September. In addition, a public hearing of the EU Parliament's Trade Committee on the agreement will take place on 24 June.
“Highest time to draw attention to this toxic agreement and its consequences for people and the environment”, says Jan Pehrke of the Coordination Against BAYER Dangers.
“The EU-Mercosur agreement is poisonous to our climate, as it drives trade in climate-damaging goods such as beef and cars; moreover, the increasing transport of goods by sea, air and road is accelerating the climate crisis”, says Hanni Gramann, trade expert at Attac.
"The EU-Mercosur Agreement is a threat to biodiversity and human rights. It facilitates trade in highly hazardous pesticides at the expense of humans and nature in the Mercosur area. Fruits treated with these means later end up on European plates – including those that have long been banned in our country because they have been shown to endanger health", explains Ludwig Essig, coordinator of the Network for Fair World Trade and trade policy officer at the Munich Institute for the Environment.
“The EU-Mercosur Agreement is poison for fair and balanced trade. We import from Mercosur over 80 % agricultural products and raw materials, while our exports are almost exclusively processed industrial products. This unjust trade, which originated in the colonial era and is deepened by the agreement, must come to an end", says Bettina Müller, Trade and Investment Policy Officer at PowerShift e.V.
Many more actions will follow in the coming weeks and months to prevent the ratification of the EU-Mercosur agreement – in Germany, the EU and South America.
For inquiries and inquiries, please contact:
- Ludwig Essig, Network of Just World Trade, essig@forumue.de, +49 (0) 30 678 1775 915
- Bettina Müller, Trade and Investment Policy Officer at PowerShift e.V., bettina.mueller@power-shift.de, 0174/4537604
- Hanni Gramann, trade expert at Attac, hanni.gramann@attac.de, 0176/30608762
- Jan Pehrke, Coordination against BAYER dangers, pehrke@gmx.de, 0211/33 39 11
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