Pink scandal speech

Stupid beef fillet: Mercosur scandal in parliament!

National Councillor Gerald Loacker (NEOS) takes a swipe at Austria's farmers.

(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

Mercosur scandalous speech in Parliament: During a debate, NEOS member Gerald Loacker insulted the Farmers' Union in the foulest possible way because it is massively opposing the free trade agreement out of concern for domestic agriculture. Farmers and climate activists are appalled by the pink ride over a "stupid beef fillet".

"Then swap your cows and goats with each other", the pink Ländle mandatary quivered with anger and accused local farmers of being "small-scale" in a way that he had not even experienced in the furthest Vorarlberg valley. NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger responded to this speech with malicious laughter.

"Deppertes Rindsfilet"("Stupid fillet of beef")
 Another tasty snippet from Loacker's angry and insulting rant: "The entire ÖVP is being taken to task by the farmers' association because of a few kilos of beef. This is provincial thinking and all because of a stupid fillet of beef..."

Farmers demand an apology
Paul Nemecek, Director of the Lower Austrian Farmers' Association, sees red in the face of "these denigrations of his profession": "On behalf of the Austrian farmers, I call on Mr. Loacker to apologize and see these unqualified statements as an incentive to be even more committed in the fight against Mercosur."

Lower Austria's Farmers' Association Director Paul Nemecek is angry.

(Bild: Gerhard Bartel)

NEOS have nothing to do with agriculture
The campaigning MEP Alexander Bernhuber (ÖVP) echoes this sentiment: "We take the concerns of farmers and consumers seriously. This agreement is dead and will remain dead." What further infuriates Bernhuber is that Anna Stürgkh, who is running for her pink party in second place on the list, believes that agricultural policy is "not what moves people". The main issues are border protection, education, innovation and research.

Harsh criticism also comes from climate activists. Greenpeace Europe head Alexander Egit: "It is unacceptable that NEOS economic spokesperson Gerald Loacker is trampling on legitimate ecological concerns. The EU-Mercosur trade pact is a bad deal across the board - both for nature and for farmers in Austria. The pact would not only flood the European market with low-quality meat and put our agriculture under massive pressure. The Amazon would also be further deforested. Trade agreements that only benefit the big corporations must be stopped."

Tons of cheap meat at stake
Once again, Greenpeace puts the facts on the table: the EU-Mercosur pact provides, among other things, for an increase in the import quota for cheap beef from the current 200,000 tons to 300,000 tons per year. The import quota for sugar is to be increased by 10,000 tons, while the import quota for bioethanol - which is also obtained from sugar cane - is to rise by as much as 650,000 tons.

The pact would thus further fuel slash-and-burn agriculture in the Amazon, while sugar beet farmers and cattle breeders in Austria would come under enormous economic pressure. The EU is already importing agricultural goods that are directly responsible for the destruction of 120,000 hectares of forest every year in the four Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay) alone. That is one soccer pitch of forest every three minutes, rages Greenpeace boss Alexander Egit.

The population is also against the agreement
As a reminder: back in 2019, the Austrian National Council made a binding commitment to say "no" to EU-Mercosur. This decision is still supported by the population: according to a survey published in 2023 by the Spar retail chain and Greenpeace, a large majority of 87% of Austrians are vehemently opposed to the trade agreement anyway.