Several agricultural organizations, environmental groups, and development agencies have welcomed the Dutch rejection of the European free trade agreement with South America.
A majority of the Dutch parliament yesterday passed a motion against the Mercosur trade agreement, supported by the governing ChristenUnie party. That trade deal with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay was concluded last year.
The agricultural organizations and environmental groups believe that there should actually be less free trade and more regulation of supply and demand. With greater market protection, livestock farmers and arable farmers could finally receive fair prices, both in South America and in the European Union, they argued. Consumer and environmental organizations were critical, partly due to the relaxed use of pesticides in Brazil. Some of those substances are banned in the European Union.
European companies could save more than 4 billion euros annually on import duties, and especially Brazil could export more meat to the EU. But it also concerns exports of orange juice, instant coffee, and fruit to Europe. It involves a lot of money. Trade between the two trading blocs amounted to over 100 billion euros last year.
In the House of Representatives, the Party for the Animals submitted a motion to withdraw support for the agreement. The main arguments are the lower standards in South American agriculture, unfair competition for European farmers, and fraud with Brazilian meat for European markets.
For the agreement to take effect, all EU countries must ratify it. The European Parliament must also approve it. It is already known that there are concerns about parts of the agreement in France, as well as within the center-left groups in the European Parliament. The regional parliament of Wallonia (Belgium) has already rejected the Mercosur agreement.
The agreement has not yet been officially submitted for ratification to the governments of the EU countries. That can only happen once the complete legal document has been translated. That process is expected to begin this autumn, but it is already clear that the Dutch parliament does not agree with it in its current form. In theory, the cabinet can also ignore the anti-Mercosur motion.
In February, the House of Representatives approved CETA, a similar trade agreement with Canada. ChristenUnie was initially opposed to that agreement as well, but after some concessions from the cabinet, CU agreed. The CETA agreement still needs to be approved by the Senate, where Prime Minister Rutte also lacks a majority.
A similar situation could arise with this anti-Mercosur statement from the House of Representatives. It certainly puts Prime Minister Mark Rutte in a difficult position, as he is a strong advocate and supporter of as much unhindered free trade as possible, not only in Dutch politics but also within the EU.