Greenpeace activists climbed the EU Council of Ministers building this morning to protest the Mercosur trade pact. “Stop UE-Mercosur” said the banners that the activists placed on the building. The protest action took place at the same time as a meeting of EU trade ministers.
ORF/Katja Lehner
If the EU has its way, the free trade agreement should be signed this year, after years of tug-of-war. Negotiations with the Mercosur economic area – i.e. Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay – which had been ongoing since 1999 – were suspended after the text of the agreement was agreed in 2019. This was due to the continued deforestation of the rainforest under the then right-wing populist of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
In Brussels, hopes for a breakthrough are high when new Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva takes office, despite lingering concerns about protecting the Amazon.
Deputies call for agreement
Green, left-wing and Social Democrat MEPs also voiced strong criticism of the deal today in a letter to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the Swedish presidency of the Council. They demand that the agreement be scrapped and that social, environmental and animal welfare standards be legally enforced.
The agreement in its current form is “a dinosaur from the last millennium”, criticizes the Austrian MEP for the Greens and author of the letter, Thomas Waitz, in an issue. The sustainability chapter “is not legally applicable, because no sanction can be imposed in case of violation”, criticizes SPÖ-EU MPs and co-signatory Andreas Schieder.
Austria rejected the previous pact in parliament in 2019. Several interest groups have expressed criticism in this country, including the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions, the Chamber of Labor, Attac and religious institutions. Representatives of agriculture are also against the agreement, while representatives of industry speak of great opportunities for Austria as a place of business and work.
kale, ORF.at, from Brussels