Arno Bausemer, ESN group member and a member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI), stated:
“For decades, farmers in Germany have been effectively immobilized by bans, regulations, and bureaucracy. At the same time, they are now supposed to enter into international competition in which neither equal standards nor effective on-site controls are ensured.
The Mercosur agreement is harmful to our agriculture, and Ursula von der Leyen’s conduct is harmful to Europe’s democratic culture. The agreement has now been pushed through against the votes of France, Poland, and Hungary. Italy, which had previously been critical, was bribed at the last minute with financial concessions like in a bad mafia movie, and despite the vote in the European Parliament still pending, the Commission President already wants to announce the adoption of the agreement in Paraguay as early as next week.
Citizens in Europe have a right to high-quality and healthy food from domestic production. Our ESN group will therefore not relent in stopping this harmful agreement in the European Parliament and bringing Ms. von der Leyen back down to the ground of democracy.”
