63 MEPs from three political groups – the Greens/EFA, the S&D and the GUE/NGL – published a letter on Thursday 20 June to the President of the European Commission and the Trade Commissioner expressing their hostility towards a trade agreement with the four Mercosur countries.
Stressing that they had been “informed by the press” of the forthcoming conclusion of the trade chapter of an association agreement with Mercosur, these left-wing members of the European Assembly protested against the fact that they had not recently been able to fulfil their role in monitoring these negotiations. They urge the Commission to engage in “intensive communication” during the final phase of the talks.
In the “politically very sensitive” context of this agreement, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s arrival in power set off the powder keg, the signatories said. In addition to his positions on the environment and climate change, workers' and indigenous peoples' rights and fundamental freedoms, MEPs are concerned that the Brasilia government is cutting the ground under the feet of Brazilian civil society, gradually muzzling it.
MEPs also highlight the impact that this agreement could have on agriculture and the environment (see EUROPE 12278/14).
“Concluding during Parliament’s constitutional period an agreement with such a major player in agribusiness would send a very negative signal to the European electorate”, they concluded.
To read the letter: http://bit.ly/2Rpwxjq (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)