The European Parliament voted against the ratification of the Mercosur trade agreement during the plenary session. As a result, the EU will now have to renegotiate with the four South American countries on rainforest protection.
Adopted with 345 votes in favor, 295 against, and 56 abstentions, the European Parliament stated that Brazil is acting contrary to “the commitments of the Paris Agreement, particularly regarding the fight against global warming and the protection of biodiversity.”
According to the majority of the European Parliament, this deal no longer meets EU standards for climate policy and environmental protection. Agricultural spokespeople in Brussels responded approvingly to the resolution that labeled the deal negotiated by the European Commission as 'not good enough.'
The chairman of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Tim Cullinan, welcomed the vote and emphasized that the agreement between the EU and Mercosur in its current form cannot be ratified. This does not mean that the trade arrangements already implemented must be rolled back, but that the European Commission must resume negotiations on the contentious parts.
The criticism is primarily directed at Brazil, which is doing insufficiently to combat illegal logging in the tropical rainforest. There are also many comments on the sometimes poor labor conditions in the four South American Mercosur countries. The European Commission now also acknowledges that Mercosur cannot proceed if Brazil does not comply with environmental standards.”
In many EU countries, especially in the agricultural sector, there is significant criticism of the Mercosur agreement because it paves the way for cheap imports of South American meat and food, to the detriment of European products. During a recent informal EU ministers’ meeting, German Agriculture Minister Julia Klockner said she was skeptical that the Mercosur agreement could be ratified in its current form,” he said. France has also since opposed it.
In June, the Dutch parliament asked the Rutte government to inform the European Commission (EC) that the Netherlands has withdrawn its support for the Mercosur deal. The parliamentary motion referred, among other things, to an increase in unfair competition for European farmers and a lack of protection of the Amazon region and the prevention of illegal deforestation.