LNegotiations between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur, which unites Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – followed by Bolivia and Venezuela, the latter country suspended since then due to authoritarian rule – began in 1999 within the framework of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. These rules were immediately challenged by civil society behind the first international demonstration in history, held on November 30 of the same year, in Seattle. The injustice of these rules, attacks on state sovereignty, personal justice, the dynamics of concentration of power in the hands of multinational companies, the axiom of the superiority of trade over all social, climate and environmental rules are questionable.
The final change occurred in 2016, with the freezing of negotiations and blocking of the transatlantic agreement, due to resistance from European public opinion and the election of Donald Trump, who opposed the agreement. Under these conditions, the agreement signed by the EU in December 2024, in total obscurity, including when faced with members of the European Parliament, looks like a revival of the past, imposed by past methods…
The European Commission also seems to ignore geopolitical issues: the emergence of authoritarian regimes elected as a reaction to the national damage caused by free trade leading to deindustrialization, desertification of regions, privatization of public services and general financialization. Added to this was the war in Ukraine, which had an impact on agricultural trade and energy trade, as well as the re-election of Donald Trump, a supporter of protectionism. This generally leads to a negative assessment of WTO rules and the dogma of market self-regulation, as competitiveness, the fuel of unlimited growth.
Ghosts of the previous world
The deplorable climatic and ecological conditions of the planet also break this dogma: we live in a finite world, with limited resources. The EU-Mercosur agreement was a ghost of the world before the Paris climate agreement of 2015. It was a treaty that was good for multinational companies, on both sides (Argentine and Brazilian agri-food, cars, machine tools, chemicals, European pharmaceuticals), to the detriment of small and medium-sized businesses and farmers in Mercosur and within the EU.
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