Corporations weaponise obscure legal instruments to declare war on green reforms

Meanwhile, the Austrian, Walloon and Dutch parliaments have all rejected the proposed EU-Mercosur free trade agreement, the principles of which were agreed last year, in its current form, while France and Ireland have expressed clear criticisms.

So what is not to like about this deal?

Well, here is a shortlist of the impact the EU-Mercosur deal will have or is already having: higher exports of (German) cars, facilitating monocultures in previously biodiverse regions of the world, manmade Amazon fires, which reached new highs in June, to clear land for agriculture and livestock ranching, violence to indigenous peoples and animals, increased pesticide use, as well as greenhouse gas emissions from production, deforestation and shipping. The EEB was one of 265 organisations who signed a letter calling to bury this bad deal and start from a clean sheet.

“The draft EU-Mercosur trade deal is already driving further deforestation and fuelling environmental conflict. When agreed, it will boost the unsustainable intercontinental trade in high-emission meat and dairy, water-intense cash crops and biofuels,” explains the EEB’s Director of Global Policies and Sustainability Patrizia Heidegger. “What we need the German presidency to do instead is to join hands with the Justice Commissioner and push for an ambitious proposal for a European Due Diligence Directive. Companies must be held to account for substandard labour conditions and environmental degradation in their value chains.”

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