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\t\t\t<\/p>\nFresh from being signed by the Commission, the EU-Mercosur trade deal is facing mounting resistance in the European Parliament, joining European farmers who fear overseas competition.<\/p>\n
Progressive lawmakers warn it could drive up greenhouse gas emissions, accelerate deforestation and increase chemical pollution on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed the agreement on Saturday in Asunci\u00f3n, Paraguay, alongside leaders from the Mercosur bloc.<\/p>\n
The EU-Mercosur partnership agreement, to give it its full name, will still need to be ratified by the Mercosur states \u2013 Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia \u2013 and all EU countries. However, the EU Council has already approved the provisional application of the trade section once a Mercosur country ratifies it, pending the European Parliament\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n
Environmental organisations and progressive MEPs criticise the deal\u2019s growth-first approach, which they say prioritises profit over environmental preservation and other common goods.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you aim at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% and sign the Mercosur agreement? It\u2019s completely hypocritical,\u201d said MEP Manon Aubry, co-chair of The Left group. \u201cThis is further proof that the EU is caught up in a broader wave of total deregulation on environmental issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agreement provides for the elimination of most customs duties between the EU and Mercosur, covering more than 90% of trade in both directions, with quotas, transition periods and safeguard clauses. It promotes the export of European industrial and agricultural products to the Mercosur bloc \u2013 automobiles, machinery and chemicals \u2013 while opening up the EU market to imports, notably beef, poultry, sugar and soya.<\/p>\n
\u201cClimate-damaging and greenwashed trade deals, which legal experts say may even violate EU law, do little to foster equal partnership, genuine cooperation or strategic autonomy,\u201d said Audrey Changoe, trade and Investment Policy Coordinator at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, after the deal was signed Saturday.<\/p>\n
Euractiv quizzed a trio of MEPs \u2013 Pascal Canfin of liberal Renew, Saskia Bricmont of the Greens, and Aubry \u2013 about what they saw as the main risks and potential benefits of the trade deal.<\/p>\n
EU-Mercosur trade deal: What you need to know<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tEU states endorsed the controversial EU-Mercosur trade deal on Friday, but that is not the\u2026\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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Deforestation\u00a0<\/p>\n
Canfin and Bricmont did not hesitate in identifying deforestation as the greatest threat. The trade agreement will increase exports of products that promote deforestation in Latin America, such as soybeans, beef and bioethanol.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the quotas set out in the agreement for beef, we estimate that the risk of deforestation will increase by 25% compared to today,\u201d Bricmont told Euractiv.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mercosur poses an even greater risk, according to Canfin, as \u201ctwo safeguards have just been removed: the Deforestation Regulation and the soybean moratorium\u201d.<\/p>\n
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) was postponed twice<\/a>\u00a0and is not due to take effect until next year, and is likely to be swept up in the European Commission\u2019s regulatory \u201csimplification\u201d drive in April, when a review clause comes into effect.<\/p>\n The regulation, originally intended to keep products linked to deforestation off the EU market, could be subject to a rebalancing mechanism introduced into the EU-Mercosur agreement in December 2024, where aggrieved parties can take disputes over policy, and environmental policy in particular, to arbitration.<\/p>\n A question of balance<\/p>\n The mechanism was added to address Latin American concerns over the deforestation law and other green policies like the Corporate Sustainability and Due Diligence Directive, allowing a party to the trade deal to demand compensation \u2013 which could take the form of increased export quotas, reduced tariffs or other concessions \u2013 if they consider a policy measure taken by the other party to skew their trade relationship or negates expected benefits of the partnership.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Deforestation Regulation will most likely be challenged by the Brazilians,\u201d Canfin warned. \u201cEspecially since all texts that are not fully implemented at the time of signing the agreement may be subject to the rebalancing mechanism.\u201d<\/p>\n Bricmont sees this as a threat to European sovereignty, which must be able to \u201cdecide for itself what legislation it wants to adopt\u201d, without third countries interfering in \u201cour regulatory capacity\u201d, because the EU has given them a say in its own regulations.<\/p>\n Combined with the EU-Mercosur agreement, major Brazilian grain traders\u2019\u00a0recent withdrawal<\/a> from the moratorium on Amazonian soybeans increases the risk of deforestation, Bricmont and Canfin told Euractiv. Under the moratorium, traders committed to not generating more deforested areas in the Amazon.<\/p>\n Without the safeguards provided by the EUDR and the moratorium, \u201cmore exports to Europe will mean more deforestation,\u201d Canfin said. \u201cIt\u2019s inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n EU hits deal to delay key deforestation law, review in April<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tEU lawmakers reached a political agreement on Thursday evening to delay the implementation of the\u2026\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t2 minutes\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Pesticide pollution<\/p>\n The European chemicals industry is one of the main beneficiaries of the EU-Mercosur agreement, as the reduction in customs duties is set to boost exports to Mercosur countries. The European Commission projected a 47.6% increase in a sustainability impact assessment conducted in 2020.<\/p>\n Europe already exports harmful chemicals whose use is prohibited in the EU to these countries, and Brazil is known as one of the world\u2019s largest consumers of pesticides.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is complete hypocrisy,\u201d said Aubry. \u201cWe allow our industries to export dangerous products to Latin America and Mercosur countries, and then produce agricultural goods using these plant protection products, which are then sent back to Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), a UN body, has identified environmental pollution by toxic and harmful substances as one of the five direct drivers<\/a> of unprecedented levels of biodiversity loss that some characterise as the sixth global mass extinction event.<\/p>\n According to the Heinrich B\u00f6ll Institute<\/a>, a green think tank, Argentina is also a major user of pesticides, with 2018 seeing the use of 240,000 tonnes of the herbicide glyphosate alone, mainly for soybean production.<\/p>\n Rising greenhouse gas emissions<\/p>\n The European Commission has estimated that the impact of the trade deal on the climate would be marginal.<\/p>\n![\"EU](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/christine.jpg\")
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