MMadam President of the European Commission, in the coming weeks you are preparing to submit the association agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur for approval by the European Council and Parliament. We, French parliamentarians in the Senate, the National Assembly and the European Parliament, wish to remind you of the very broad and transpartisan opposition that our assemblies have formally expressed to this agreement.
The resolutions adopted in the National Assembly in 2023 and in the Senate in 2024 stipulate that the democratic, economic, environmental and social conditions are not met for the conclusion and adoption of an agreement with Mercosur. Our assemblies recall that France set three conditions for signing the agreement, namely: not increasing imported deforestation in the EU, bringing the agreement into compliance with the Paris climate agreement (2015) and introduce mirror measures in health and environmental matters.
Obviously, these conditions are not satisfied. Since the launch of EU-Mercosur negotiations in 1999, an area equivalent to the Iberian Peninsula has been deforested in the Amazon. It is now the neighboring Cerrado which is massively affected. We know that this deforestation, which contributes massively to greenhouse gas emissions and the collapse of biodiversity, is mainly linked to the change in land use for cattle breeding and soy production. This trade agreement is therefore incompatible with the Paris Agreement.
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In addition, the quantity of pesticides spread is 6 kilos per hectare (kg/ha) in Brazil, compared to 3.6 kg/ha in France. And out of the half a thousand pesticides used in Brazil or Argentina, nearly 150 are banned in Europe because they are dangerous! Likewise, Mercosur countries still widely use growth promoters for livestock, such as antibiotics, which are also banned in Europe. Such a gap in environmental, health and animal welfare standards presents a serious health risk for European consumers.
It also constitutes unfair competition for our agricultural producers while the EU sets strong ambitions in this area and imposes strict production constraints.
“Guilty naivety”
This free trade agreement, which provides for the opening of additional quotas, without customs duties or at reduced rates, for beef, poultry, corn, sugar and ethanol, would inevitably be to the detriment of producers and European breeders, against a backdrop of distortions of competition and “guilty naivety”with the absence of controls on imported products. Certain European agricultural sectors would be seriously weakened.
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