On Wednesday 13 November, farmers and civil society organisations will once again take to the streets of Brussels to reject the EU-Mercosur FTA and denounce the European Commission’s attempts to close the agreement at the G20 summit in Brazil.
Signing the EU-Mercosur FTA threatens to drive the destruction of small- and medium-scale farms on both sides of the Atlantic. It will create unfair competition, dumping and a collapse of prices for European farmers, while also driving enormous social and environmental problems in the four Mercosur countries, in total contradiction to the objectives of the Green Deal and the promises made in the Strategic Dialogue on Agriculture.
Despite continuous warnings from both European and Mercosur-country farmers of the dangers of the EU-Mercosur deal , the European Commission is trying to force its neoliberal, competition-based approach on farmers. This includes the attempts to bribe EU farmers to accept the deal by offering short-sighted compensation funds for the damage caused by the agreement. In reality, the vision of ‘competitiveness’ among farmers around the world that is being peddled by the Commission does not exist. Farmers will never be able to compete with the investment funds, big agribusiness, and agro-export and import companies who monopolise, grab and speculate land, water and agricultural production markets and make huge profit from these FTAs.
This approach allows the big players to destroy and replace more social and sustainable forms of agriculture. It leads to food speculation, undermines the right to healthy food for the whole population, drives down prices for farmers, and harms the environment and rural populations of the signatory countries.
As Andoni García Arriola, member of the ECVC Coordinating Committee, pointed out, “Farmers face perpetual challenges, such as prices that don’t cover production costs and the animal disease crisis, and while the European Commission has made endless promises, their actions prove that they are willing to abandon farmers to protect other interests. We need fair prices and conditions to grow food to feed people, and this FTA will only make that impossible.”
ECVC therefore invites farmers, CSOs, NGOs, MEPs, press and concerned citizens to join them at the crossroads between Rue de la Loi and rue des Taciturnes on 13 November to mobilise against EU-Mercosur.
Tractors will arrive at 10:30 am and speeches will start at 11am, with farmers from across Europe in attendance. Farmers from ECVC and FUGEA are requesting meetings with high-level EU representatives to find a way forward to address the concerns of farmers. ECVC will also have a delegation in Rio de Janeiro during the G20 2024 Summit to coordinate protests with peasant organisations in Brazil, Argentia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
More info and coverage can be found on eurovia.org and via social media (@ECVC1 on X and Facebook or @ecvc_viacampesina on Instagram).
ECVC demands:
- End to free trade agreements and unfair competition, with a definitive halt to negotiations on EU-Mercosur agreement.
- Add purchasing agricultural produce below production prices to the blacklist of the Unfair Trading Practices Directive via fast-track procedure. Prices to farmers must cover the costs of production.
- Regulate markets via the Common Market Organisation (CMO) in CAP to ensure minimum prices, minimum entry prices for imports, and volume regulation.
- Ensure a sufficient budget and a fair distribution of CAP aid to enable a viable transition to agroecology and sustainable practices
Contact information
Alisha Sesum
EN, FR,ES
ECVC Communications Officer
press@eurovia.org
+32 465 03 33 85/+32 2 217 31 12
Timothée Petel
FR
FUGEA
+32 0499 90 75 92
Andoni Garcia Arriola
ES, EU
ECVC Coordinating Committee
34 636 45 15 69
Alessandra Turco
IT, ES, FR
ECVC Coordinating Committee
+3934 76 42 71 70
Vitor Rodrigues
PT, EN, ES
ECVC Coordinating Committee
+351966468055
Pierre Maison
FR
ECVC Coordinating Committee
+33 615 73 13 89