180 organisations call for an Alternative to the EU Mercosur Trade Agreement

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Find the Spanish version here, the Portuguese here and German here

We firmly believe that the countries of the MERCOSUR and the EU need to improve and transform their relationship. In the last three years social movements, civil society organisations, trade unions, and farmers associations on both sides of the Atlantic have fought successfully together to stop the EU-Mercosur trade agreement from being ratified. The proposed agreement would serve primarily corporate interests at the expense of planetary boundaries, Indigenous people, family farmers, workers and animal welfare, and drive deindustrialisation and untenable social inequalities. This is nothing you can plaster over with some additional instruments. At the same time, our current economic relationship is already based on an asymmetric power relation and unequal terms of trade shaped by a history of colonialism with devastating effects on people, animals and the planet.

We, the undersigned organisations, thus believe that the EU-Mercosur agreement must be stopped and it is time to ground our common future on the principles of solidarity, equality, cooperation, sustainability and democracy. Our goal is not more unrestrained and uncontrolled trade and profits for the few but a good life for everyone. Trade can help us in the transition towards sustainable societies and methods of production but only if we base it on new principles. Negotiations concerning political, economic and sustainable trade relationships between our two regions must be based on these principles.

Solidarity

Our future relationship must not be based on exploitation but on solidarity. Therefore, we must put human rights, workers, Indigenous people, family farmers and animal welfare, protecting biodiversity and the climate front and centre. Those rights must be guaranteed universally, their protection must take precedence over any trade or business interests, and must be enforceable under international human rights law, not trade and investment law. We cannot allow transnational corporations any longer to profit from economic asymmetries and unequal rights.

Shaping our future with solidarity also means acknowledging and redressing the grossly unfair relationship and history of colonialism and exploitation that stems from it. Therefore, we must actively seek to decolonize our relations. This starts by acknowledging and taking responsibility for the historical social, ecological, financial and climate debt that Europe owes to the people from Mercosur countries, paying back those debts, including through public funding by the EU for Mercosur people’s development projects for just and sustainable societies, and in terms of trade, by granting comprehensive horizontal Special and Differential Treatment to Mercosur countries, industries and producers.

Equality

Trade and investment policies have so far contributed to increasing inequalities, between regions, and between people and reinforcing power relations like patriarchy, racism and neocolonialism profiting multinational corporations and big landowners. Future cooperation must change course and contribute to increasing equality. This starts by acknowledging indigenous rights, and supporting indigenous and rural communities, including Afro- descendant Quilombolas, landless and small-scale family farmers both in Europe and the Mercosur, riverine (Ribeirinhos) and small scale-fishing communities in maintaining their lands and culture and avoiding trading any product that can threaten it.

It further means overcoming economic models which are based on the appropriation of unpaid and underpaid reproductive labour on both sides of the Atlantic as well the discrimination of women in the labour market by transnational corporations thereby reinforcing patriarchal structures. Instead, future cooperation should foster public and community approaches to care. Therefore care work and public services provided by the State as a human right on a non for profit basis must be rooted locally and respected internationally.

Cooperation

Cooperation, not competition should be the principle we base our relationship on. Only huge corporations win when you pit workers and farmers against each other.

The EU and Mercosur should be able to protect peasant and family farmers against unfair competition and the Mercosur should be able to protect domestic industries that provide high- quality jobs.

Cooperation means that we should not seek to increase trade between our societies as a goal in itself but should primarily improve commercial partnerships of products that are produced sustainably and are not easily available on the other side.

Future cooperation must include the preferential transfer of technology and knowledge, free from corporate-controlled intellectual property rights, to support the necessary social and technological transformation of our economies by learning from each other.

Sustainability

Future cooperation must contribute to the transition towards sustainable societies and methods of production, be based on the principles of food sovereignty, agroecology, care and ensure reciprocity in high-quality standards across the board once decolonization measures have been taken by the EU and Special and Differential Treatment has been enacted.

Sustainability is not something you add at the end of an agreement in a separate non- enforceable chapter but a fundamental cross-cutting issue. Therefore, we should aim to trade only products that are not harmful to the planet, animals and people. This means stopping the trade of agricultural products from monocultures like soy and sugarcane and intensive animal farming which fuels deforestation, biodiversity loss and the spread of zoonoses. Instead, we should trade sustainable products, favouring local and domestic products when possible. It also means to stop the export of harmful and dangerous products such as forbidden pesticides from Europe to the Mercosur. Sustainable trade also implies reducing emissions from transport. Our relationship can’t be based on the extraction of resources low on the valuechain for the benefit of European economies. People in the Mercosur need the right to say no to harmful extractivist practices and demand a fair price for their resources. Our trade relationship must focus on sustainable methods of production, and on products not available either in the EU or the Mercosur.

Democracy

Finally, the relationship between the people of Mercosur and the EU cannot be decided behind closed doors. Any future cooperation must be based on the mentioned principles in a democratic, participatory and transparent way. Such a process must put the people most affected front and centre. Indigenous people, small scale peasant and family farmers, women and men, workers and civil society need to lead such a process, in order to guarantee that their interests and planetary boundaries are respected. The rights of Indigenous peoples, peasants, workers and women must be respected, and the people from both regions must have the right to say NO to any agreement that does not serve their legitimate interests and aspirations for democratic, sustainable and just societies.

Moreover, any future cooperation must safeguard the broadest possible policy space for governments to be able to fulfil their public interest mandates as a precondition for democracy and no trade and investment measures should be enacted that can threaten that policy space. Our common future depends on more robust democracies and people’s power, not stronger and further entrenched vested interests and corporate power.

1. Plataforma América Latina mejor sin TLC	Regional
2. Climate Action Network Europe	Europe
3. European Coordination Via Campesina	Europe
4. WeMove Europe	Europe
5. Friends of the Earth International	Global
6. Greenpeace	Global
7. Ekō	Global
8. Seattle to Brussels Network	Europe
9. Le Mouvement de la Paix	France
10. Cgt	France
11. Les Amis du Monde diplomatique	France
12. ZEA	France
13. France Amérique Latine-FAL	France
14. Groupe Non-Violent LOUIS LECOIN	France
15. Alofa Tuvalu	France
16. Emmaüs International	France
17. Union syndicale Solidaires	France
18. MRAP	France
19. CCFD Terre Solidaire	France
20. Notre Affaire À Tous	France
21. Foodwatch	France
22. Union syndicale Solidaires	France
23. Fédération Artisans du Monde	France
24. Autres Brésils	France
25. Réseau Européen pour la Démocratie au Brésil (RED.Br)	France
26. Comité Pauvreté et Politique	France
27. Amis de la Terre France / Friends of the Earth France	France
28. LDH	France
29. ActionAid France	France
30. Action Non-Violente COP21	France
31. Alternatiba	France
32. BLOOM Association	France
33. Copernic	France
34. Générations Futures	France
35. France Nature Environnement	France
36. reseau roosevelt du travail pour tous	france
37. FSU	France
38. CADTM France	France
39. Committee in Solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas (CSIA-Nitassinan)	France
40. Aitec	France
41. Confédération paysanne nationale	France
42. Canopée	France
43. Association Franco-Brésilienne pour les Peuples – AFBP	France
44. LIGUE DES DROITS DE L’HOMME CORSICA	France
45. EDA – association Environnement Développement Alternatif Lille	France
46. medicusmundi	España
47. UPO	Spain
48. Trawunche Madrid (Coordinación de Apoyo al Pueblo Mapuche)	España
49. Sevilla no al TTIP	Sevilla- Spain
50. CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo)	España
51. CONFEDERACION INTERSINDICAL	ESPAÑA
52. Asamblea Plaza de los pueblos	España
53. La Coordinadora de Organizaciones para el Desarrollo	Spain
54. Asociación Cultural Brasileña Maloka	España
55. UGT	España
56. Permacultura ATTA	España
57. Red Ecofeminista	España
58. Entrepueblos/Entrepobles/Entrepobos/Herriarte	Spain
59. Campanya Catalunya No als tractats de comerç i inversió	España
60. Campaña estatal No a los Tratados de Comercio e Inversión	Spain
61. Ecologistas en Acción	Spain
62. Salva la Selva	España
63. ECOAR)))	Spain
64. Argentinos en España, UCM y ATTAC	ESPAÑA
65. FSC-CCOO	Spain
66. Colectivo Agar, Espacio de investigacion y Encuentro desde la diversidad	España
67. Foro Pacifista Internacionalista de Ciudad Real	Spain
68. ALBA	España
69. OMAL	EStado español
70. Amigos de la Tierra	España
71. Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (AbL)	Germany
72. Bündnis für gerechten Welthandel München	Deutschland
73. Bündnis gerechter Welthandel Mannheim	Deutschland
74. ÖDP	Deutschland
75. KAB Deutschlands	Germany
76. Stop-TTIP Kreis Miltenberg	Deutschland
77. Christ*innen für den Sozialismus	Deutschland
78. Kölner Bündnis für gerechten Welthandel	Germany
79. Jugend im Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e.V. (BUNDjugend)	Germany
80. Heidelberger Bündnis für gerechten Welthandel	Germany
81. Pax Christi München	Germany
82. BUND Hameln-Pyrmont	Germany
83. Wuppertaler Aktionsbündnis Gerechter Welthandel	Deutschland
84. Ttip-nein-danke.de Miltenberg	Deutschland
85. Attac Germany	Germany
86. Heidelberger Bündnis für einen gerechten Welthandel	Germany
87. KoBra Kooperation Brasilien e.V.	Germany
88. Bürgerinitiative “aufRECHT:FREIdenken Mittelbaden”	Deutschland, Baden-Württemberg
89. Oficina Ecuménica por la Paz y la Justicia	Alemania
90. Netzwerk gerechter Welthandel	Germany
91. Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft Baden-Württemberg	Germany
92. Gerechter Welthandel	Germany
93. NaturFreunde Deutschlands	Deutschland
94. Konstanzer Bündnis für gerechten Welthandel	Germany / Deutschland
95. POEMA – Armut u. Umwelt in Amazonien	Deutschland
96. Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren	Deutschland
97. Berliner Wassertisch	Germany
98. FDCL-Center for Research and Documentation Chile-Latin America	Germany
99. Stop-TTIP Kreis Miltenberg	Deutschland
100. ILA Informationsstelle Lateinamerika e.V. Bonn	Germany
101. Rettet den Regenwald	Germany
102. POEMA e.V.	Deutschland
103. Informationsstelle Peru	Germany
104. Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND e.V)	Germany
105. NABU e. V.	Deutschland
106. PowerShift	Germany
107. Parents for Future Germany	Germany
108. FUGEA	Belgium
109. Mouvement d’Action Paysanne	Belgium
110. Fern	Belgium
111. Eurogroup for Animals	Belgium
112. Corporate Europe Observatory	Belgium
113. Entraide & Fraternité	Belgique
114. Espirito Mundo	Belgium
115. CNCD-11.11.11	Belgium
116. Rise for Climate Belgium	Belgique
117. Institute of Socioeconomic Studies – Inesc	Brasil
118. FASE – Solidariedade e Educação	Brazil
119. Instituto Terramar	Brasil
120. Articulação Agro é Fogo	Brasil
121. Amigos da Terra Brasil	Brasil
122. MST	Brasil
123. Coalizão Negra por Direitos	Brasil
124. Global Aktion	Danmark
125. Animal Protection Denmark	Denmark
126. Global Aktion	Denmark
127. NOAH Friends of the Earth Denmark	Denmark
128. Parents For Future Wien	Österreich
129. GLOBAL 2000 – Friends of the Earth Austria	Austria
130. Anders Handeln	Austria
131. Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund/Austrian Trade Union	Österreich
132. Attac Austria	Austria
133. Coordination office of the Austrian Bishop`s Conference	Austria
134. Welthaus Graz	Austria
135. Welthaus Diözese Graz-Seckau	Austria
136. DKA Austria	Austria
137. Climate Save Portugal	Portugal
138. TROCA – Plataforma por um Comércio Internacional Justo	Portugal
139. GAIA – Grupo de Accao e Intervencao Ambiental	Portugal
140. Academia Cidadã	Portugal
141. Climáximo	Portugal
142. Palombar – Associação de Conservação da Natureza e do Património Rural	Portugal
143. Ecomood Portugal	Portugal
144. CIDAC – Centro de Intervenção para o Desenvolvimento Amílcar Cabral	Portugal
145. Campo Aberto – associação de defesa do ambiente	Portugal
146. ATBG	Portugal
147. Opus Diversidades	Portugal
148. ZERO – associação sistema terrestre sustentável	Portugal
149. Stop TTIP Italy	Italy
150. Fairwatch	Italia
151. Transnational Institute (TNI)	Netherlands
152. WILPF NL	Nederland
153. FNV	Netherlands
154. Handel Anders!	Netherlands
155. Agriculture coalition for Just Trade	Netherlands
156. SOMO	Netherlands
157. Both ENDS	Netherlands
158. Milieudefensie – Friends of the Earth Netherlands	Netherlands
159. Working group Food Justice	Netherlands
160. Platform Aarde Boer Consument	Netherlands
161. Centro de Estudios Heñói	Paraguay
162. SOBREVIVENCIA, Amigos de la Tierra Paraguay	Paraguay
163. ATTAC Hungary	Hungary
164. Clean Air Action Group	Hungary
165. FUNDACION SOLON	Bolivia
166. ASTM	Luxembourg
167. Plataforma de Formación Militante	Argentina
168. Fresh Eyes	United Kingdom
169. Groupe d’Action Francophone pour l’Environnement GAFE Haïti	Haïti
170. COECOCEIBA-Amigos de la Tierra CR	Costa Rica
171. UDAPT	Ecuador
172. CESTA AT El Salvador	El Salvador, CA
173. REDES-AT (FoE) Uruguay	Uruguay
174. Attac Norway	Norway
175. Naturefriends Greece	Greece
176. SEED: Strategies for Ethical and Environmental Development, Inc.	United States
177. Zaustavimo TTIP	Hrvatska
178. Volunteers Welfare for Community Based Care of Zambia (VOWAZA)	Zambia
179. African Network of Young Researchers	Côte d’Ivoire
180. Fundacja Strefa Zieleni	Poland