In einem gemeinsamen Brief an EU-Kommission und Rat haben Europaabgeordnete verschiedener Fraktionen am Mittwoch die Neuverhandlung des EU-Mercosur-Handelsabkommens gefordert. Nur so könne sichergestellt werden, dass der Schutz der Umwelt und die Beachtung der Menschenrechte in den Mittelpunkt des Abkommens gestellt werden. Fair-handeln-statt-ttip dokumentiert das Schreiben (PDF im Anhang).

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Brussels, 24th May 2023

Honourable Prime Minister Kristersson,
Honourable President von der Leyen,
Honourable Commissioner Dombrovskis,

We urge you to re-open the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement; this is the only way to ensure
that the environment and human rights will be put at the center of the deal.

Four years of Jair Bolsonaro’s destructive environmental and social policies have left Brazilian
ecosystems and human rights protections in a precarious state: Deforestation in the Brazilian
Amazon grew by almost 60% (1), 26% of the forest show severe signs of degradation, while
20% (2) have already suffered irreversible losses. The election of Luiz Inácio da Silva as Brazil's
new president offers hope and an enormous opportunity for fundamental social-ecological
transition. The European Union could and should aid the transition to overturn Bolsonaro’s
brutal legacy. However, we are concerned that instead, Lula’s options to seriously protect
climate and human rights standards are limited and that his victory is being used to push the
EU-Mercosur trade deal quickly over the line and increase the trade of the same commodities
that have driven the Amazon and other ecosystems to a tipping point.

This EU-Mercosur agreement in its current form would be a disaster for sustainable
agriculture, for the European Green Deal, the Paris agreement and for people on both sides
of the Atlantic. An increase in imports of beef, poultry and sugar threatens to increase
intensive agriculture in the Mercosur region and undermine local and regional agricultural
production models in rural areas, particularly small and medium scale food producers. It would
also have dramatic repercussions on European agriculture and create an unfair playing field
for European producers.

In addition, by promoting massive exports of pesticides to Mercosur countries, including
pesticides banned in the EU, the deal goes against the EU’s own Farm to Fork strategy which
aims to radically reduce the use of chemical pesticides.

The EU-Mercosur agreement would also affect food safety and consumers in the EU, as EU’s
precautionary principles are not incorporated in the chapter on Sanitary and Phytosanitary
Measures (SPS): on the contrary, the chapter fast-tracks the approval of animal products
intended for export. This weakens import controls, and increases public health risks.
At the same time, economic studies (3) show the deal would likely cause job losses in the
manufacturing sector in Mercosur countries, leading to more social and economic inequality.
Even the European Commission’s own sustainable impact assessment admits this deal is
unlikely to add a significant number of jobs in the EU. Studies (4) have also shown that GDP
increase from the deal is negligible.

The EU-Mercosur agreement is a dinosaur deal from the last century, concluded with the
Bolsonaro government. It reflects the very thinking that created the social-ecological crisis in
the first place and will boost products that are driving the climate crisis. It is too late for a joint
additional instrument to address the structural problems promoted by the deal that aims to
increase exports of agricultural products that drive deforestation, GHG emissions and
biodiversity loss.

These serious concerns shown by governments, national parliaments, farmers,
environmentalists and consumers across the EU should not be bypassed via a splitting
maneuver. Splitting the agreement into a trade and a political pillar poses a severe threat to
our democratic processes. A full approval by all EU governments and national parliaments is
a crucially important act of democracy.

We therefore urge you to refrain from splitting the EU-Mercosur deal, adopting a joint
additional instrument and call on you to ensure full transparency and participation of
parliamentarians and civil society by re-opening this trade agreement between the EU and
Mercosur and to ensure it puts the environment and human rights at center rather than on the
sideline.

Lula’s presidency will not last forever, but this EU-Mercosur deal would have an impact for
decades and future generations.

Yours sincerely,
MEP Thomas Waitz, Greens/EFA
MEP Yannick Jadot, Greens/EFA
MEP Anna Cavazzini, Greens/EFA
MEP Saskia Bricmont, Greens/EFA
MEP Tilly Metz, Greens/EFA
MEP Manuela Ripa, Greens/EFA
MEP Grace O’Sullivan, Greens/EFA
MEP Andreas Schieder, S&D
MEP Eric Andrieu, S&D
MEP Pascal Durand, Renew
MEP Miguel Urban Crespo, The Left
MEP Helmut Scholz, The Left
MEP Malin Bjork, The Left
MEP Mick Wallace, The Left
MEP Clare Daly, The Left

(1) https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oeco.org.br/noticias/amazonia-perdeu-115-mil-km%C2%B2-de-floresta-em-2022-
aponta-inpe/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1683810874799267&usg=AOvVaw3z7h9CCrtu827-jj1rnLoA
(2) https://www.google.com/url?q=https://amazonia80x2025.earth/amazonia-against-the-
clock/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1683810906284684&usg=AOvVaw2IWBspF9gKRd1gf9vzqb40
(3) https://www.bu.edu/gdp/files/2021/06/GEGI_WP_052_FIN.pdf
(4) Ibid.

Foto: Waldbrände am Amazonas (C: Pixabay)