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Recently, many newspapers have written about Brussels’ rush to finalize the trade agreement between the EU and the South American Mercosur countries. According to the European Commission, national parliaments do not need to approve it because the trade part and the “political” part have been separated. This “splitting” means that the trade part can be approved as an EU-only decision by the European Council and the European Parliament, while national parliaments are sidelined and the political-cooperation part is postponed. Both ENDS and its partners are deeply concerned and are calling on the Dutch government to vote against this outdated agreement.

A recent report by Wageningen Economic Research (WER) on the economic consequences of the trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur confirms what civil society organizations, policymakers, and trade unions have been signaling for years: this agreement does not offer a balanced perspective for farmers and the environment. Instead, it increases power inequalities and shifts burdens onto (small-scale) farmers. Moreover, the deal risks reinforcing unsustainable practices that complicate the climate transition and addressing environmental challenges in both the EU and Mercosur countries.

The trade agreement with South America is harmful to farmers, the climate, and biodiversity, on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s time to take this deal off the table once and for all, argues Fernando Hernandez, Senior Policy Officer for Trade and Investment at Both ENDS.

On December 6, the visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the Mercosur Summit sealed the agreement on the final text of the EU-Mercosur Association Agreement. Both ENDS condemns this damaging agreement for undermining human rights, the environment, and democracy in Europe, and in Mercosur countries. Should the agreement be ratified as it stands, it will have devastating consequences for the environment, indigenous communities, family farming and small-scale farmers on both sides of the Atlantic.

In this video, Tamara Mohr of Both ENDS talks about our role in supporting the Wetlands without Borders network: "We send funding to smaller organizations, that also work to distribute it to more local organizations. We see in the Wetlands network that this does work, and that organizations also grow this way."