Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

"This trade deal is a double whammy for the planet: it will exacerbate deforestation and encourage the production of big, dirty cars. This might just be the EU's worst trade agreement for the climate". That is the view of Perrine Fournier, a campaigner with the forestry NGO, Fern. Every time these free trade agreements, FTAs, are negotiated, the real character of the European Union is exposed as an organisation which exists to promote the interests of big business within Europe and which pays lip service to human rights, sustainability and the environment, all of which it is willing to sacrifice on the altar of profit. It is an organisation which engages in trade negotiation behind closed doors, with privileged access for big corporations while even governments fail to get access. Just recently, the French Government complained that it did not have access to the latest papers in these negotiations with Mercosur.

A couple of years ago, the EU pledged that it would halt global deforestation by 2020. In the Trade for All strategy of 2015, the EU stated, as it has on multiple occasions, that trade would be used as a lever to promote sustainable development and human rights. All of that is to be sacrificed, however, in the interests of, on the one hand, the big car companies in Europe and, on the other, big ranchers in Mercosur countries, particularly those in Brazil. That is the way these deals work. They can only be derailed by a mass movement from below of people who stand for a very different model of trade based on solidarity, mutual assistance and co-operation. This is a complete disaster for the environment and the halting of deforestation. In the context of the latter, the Bolsonaro Government has put indigenous lands demarkation under the jurisdiction of the agriculture Ministry deliberately to pave the way for the cattle and soy agribusinesses to accelerate their sweep through the Amazon. This deal makes the EU complicit in the extensive attacks on human rights the Bolsonaro Government is carrying out. During the election campaign, Bolsonaro promised to end all forms of activism in Brazil and he has begun to implement that promise since he came to power. This is a disaster for the indigenous people in Brazil in particular because at least 14 protected indigenous territories are reported to be under attack from invaders. In many cases, those invaders are sponsored by the big corporations that want them off the land so that they can raze the forests and use the ground for ranching. The Bolsonaro Government has also abolished 35 national councils of social participation involving indigenous people. That is the logic of the model of trade pursued by the European Union. It is a logic accepted by the big parties, including Fianna Fáil, when it comes to most trade agreements, and it must be resisted from below if it is to be stopped.

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