New round of negotiations

“Stone Age pact”: Concerns about a quick Mercosur deal

French farmers protest against the pact with the Mercosur states by setting fire to bales of straw.

(Bild: AFP)

A new round of negotiations on the controversial Mercosur pact is once again causing local farmers and environmentalists to rise up on the barricades. The deal could still be finalized this year. The ÖVP also wants to counteract this at national level.

As reported, opponents of the trade agreement had gained hope after France's powerful President Emmanuel Macron described the planned deal as "very bad" during a visit to South America in March. Now, however, the South American confederation is once again exerting massive pressure: from September 4 to 6, negotiators from the EU and the Mercosur states are to meet in the Brazilian capital Brasilia to hammer out further details.

 Criticism of the "Stone Age pact"
"The trade agreement is to be wrapped up this year", fears Greenpeace head Alexander Egit. Farmers' Association President Georg Strasser also warns once again: "This Stone Age pact is far removed from reality. A modern trade agreement must have the primary goal of protecting our markets and maintaining the competitiveness of domestic agriculture and forestry!"

The Mercosur trade agreement contains none of this. A tough demand from the powerful agrarian: the EU Commission must set an example for our family farms and put a stop to these negotiations. The EU mandatary of the Farmers' Union, Alexander Bernhuber, is making the same demand. The active cattle farmer represents local farmers in Parliament and has been campaigning against the deal there for a long time: "Anyone who is serious about our small-scale, sustainable agriculture must never agree to this trade agreement. We will do everything we can to ensure that there are no further fantasies of this kind."

It was not least thanks to a broad campaign by the "Krone" and the courageous efforts of farmers' representatives that the political decision was reached to ensure that Austrian representatives at EU level must always speak out against this damaging trade agreement. "We want to enshrine the 'no' to Mercosur in the next government program," Strasser and Bernhuber say combatively.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace reveals that all masks are now falling: "The German government wants to push through the disastrous pact, from which the industry of our neighboring country in particular hopes to make huge profits, against France and Austria as well." Just one piece of evidence: the medium Table. Media reported in its latest Agrifood newsletter: "Berlin is not ruling out the possibility of the negotiated Mercosur agreement being passed without the consent of the critical countries, including France, the Netherlands and Austria, if necessary. What's more, the export-oriented mechanical engineering industry association VDMA is urging the Commission to "finally have the courage to push ahead with the free trade agreements" - even against the will of France if necessary."

A procedural trick - splitting - is to be used for this purpose. This would allow the vetoes of France and Austria to be easily circumvented. A scandal in terms of democracy and environmental policy! In plain language: The EU-Mercosur Pact consists of two parts, one on trade and one with political agreements (the so-called "Association Agreement").

Germany wants to change the "rules of the game"
The two parts were negotiated on the basis of a joint negotiating mandate given by the EU member states to the Commission. The two parts were therefore always intended as a joint package and refer to each other in many places. As the political part affects national competences, the entire agreement must be decided unanimously. However, the split-off trade part alone would be an EU competence. This means that a majority would be sufficient for the decision. In order to push through the trade pact, Germany would therefore like to change the rules of the game and split up the EU-Mercosur agreement. The trade part could then be decided by a majority against the will of Austria and come into force. This would allow European industry to unabashedly sell more cars and pesticides in South America, while the South American agricultural industry would sell more agricultural goods such as meat, sugar and ethanol in Europe - with all the resulting disastrous consequences for the rainforest and local mountain farmers.