Farmers appalled

“Attempt at bribery” by the Mercosur lobby

The EU Commission wants to break the farmers' resistance with money.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/WEDPHOTO)

The organization Attac describes the EU Commission's latest, blatant offer to the continent's farmers as "shameless". In particular, the notoriously combative, recalcitrant farmers are to be "bribed" with one billion US dollars to give up their resistance to the climate-killing Mercosur agreement with South America.

A pro-pact diplomat in Paris promptly described the sum on offer as an "interesting option". His compatriots are considered the most fierce opponents of the pact of all EU states. According to "Politico" magazine, Austria's farmers are also being offered this fiscal bait. However, the Brussels agricultural lobby was promptly rebuffed by domestic farmers' representatives. "Our promise is not for sale. We are sticking to our strict and unwavering no," said the Turkish team, EU mandatary Alexander Bernhuber and Lower Austrian Farmers' Association Director Paul Nemecek, indignantly rejecting the advances.

The EU-Mercosur Pact

Among other things, the EU-Mercosur Pact provides 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 further fuel slash-and-burn agriculture in the Amazon region, while sugar beet farmers and cattle breeders in Austria would come under enormous economic pressure, warn climate activists. The EU is already importing agricultural goods that are directly responsible for the destruction of 120,000 hectares of forest every year in the five Mercosur countries alone. That's one soccer pitch of forest every three minutes.

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 reject the trade agreement.

Will agreement be finalized on the sidelines of the G20 summit?
The compensation offered is a mockery, an outright farce. For each farmer in the Union would only receive a share of ten euros. Greenpeace boss Alexander Egit is also outraged. Nevertheless, the controversial free trade agreement could be finalized at the G20 summit taking place this weekend in Rio de Janeiro.

Protest against the EU-Mercosur pact in France

(Bild: APA/AFP/JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER)

Agreement on ice since 2019
The Mercosur group includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and, most recently, Bolivia. With the agreement, the EU and South America could create the largest trade zone in the world, with more than 720 million people. The zone would cover almost 20 percent of the global economy and more than 31 percent of global goods exports. However, the negotiated agreement has been on hold since 2019. The treaty is controversial both in South America and in Europe - particularly in Austria and France. French President Emmanuel Macron even declared the trade agreement dead in January. Some countries want to protect their markets, others fear that labor or environmental standards will be weakened. 

Austrian economic delegate appeases
The Austrian economic delegate in Brazil, Günther Sucher, spoke out in favor of the agreement a few weeks ago. He could not understand the fears of Austrian agriculture that it would be flooded with cheap meat from the region. The economic delegate referred to the quotas negotiated in the agreement, for example with regard to beef. The agreement would allow 99,000 tons of beef per year to enter the EU with lower tariffs or even duty-free - in Austria terms, that would be "one steak per year" (220 grams), Sucher said.