Berlin, 06.12: <\/span><\/strong>H<\/span>Negotiations on the EU-Mercosur agreement have officially ended. This brings us closer to ratifying the controversial agreement. With this decision, the four heads of government of the Mercosur states and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ignore the recent increasingly loud and diverse criticism. Over the past four weeks, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the South American Confederation of Trade Union Confederations (CCSCS), European Farmers' Associations, the European Consumers' Association (BEUC) and 400 civil society organisations and movements<\/a> on both sides of the Atlantic against the EU-Mercosur Agreement. The governments of France and Poland also made their rejection clear.<\/p>\n \"The decision to make this trade agreement ready for signature is a slap in the face for all those who have been drawing attention to the blatant consequences of this agreement for the environment, climate and human rights for years. The EU-Mercosur agreement was negotiated behind closed doors \u2013 not even the EU Parliament was sufficiently informed about its content. By the way, Ursula von der Leyen also shows that she has long since torn down the fire wall against the right. Instead of showing a clear edge against the disastrous policies of Argentine President Javier Milei, it gives him a foreign policy success at the summit, where he takes over the presidency of Mercosur. It's a sad day for democracy,\" said Bettina M\u00fcller, Trade and Investment Policy Officer at PowerShift.<\/p>\n