Germany threatens not to ratify free trade agreement between EU and Mercosur due to Amazon deforestation

Germany is threatening not to ratify the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur in its current form, because of deforestation in the Amazon. According to a report published by Valor Econômico newspaper, the hope in Brasília was that the Merkel government, currently in the rotating presidency of the EU, would boost the approval of the agreement.

After a meeting at which Chancellor Angela Merkel received Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on August 20, representatives of the environmental movement Fridays for Future said that the German leader promised not to ratify the agreement with Mercosur in its current form.  German activist Luisa Neubauer, leader of the movement in Germany, wrote on her Twitter account that the chancellor declared that she “definitely” will not sign the text.

Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said that Merkel expressed “serious doubts” about the implementation of the agreement because of deforestation in the Amazon. According to him, “there are considerable doubts that the agreement can be implemented as intended, in view of the current events and the terrible forest losses recorded”.

It is worth mentioning that last year when the Amazon burned and made headlines in the world press, Germany´s minister for the environment, Svenja Schulze, raised the possibility of including the requirement for a certification system for beef and soybeans in the European Union-Mercosur free trade agreement.  Thus, for the German minister, “soybeans and beef should only be allowed to be imported if it is proven that the production did not cause damage to the rainforest”. She pointed out a model that could be repeated in the EU-Mercosur agreement. “We have already gained experience with such certifications for palm oil,” he said at the time.

Source: Valor Econômico

Sharing is caring!