Invitation to a lecture: The fatal consequences of an ‘EU-Mercosur’ agreement

The view of a scientist from Brazil

On Thursday, 26 June 2025 at 8 p.m.

at the Oekozenter Pafendall – 6, rue Vauban – Luxembourg

The EU-Mercosur trade agreement – the agreement between the EU and the South American states of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – is back in the news. Not least after Prime Minister Luc Frieden announced in his speech on the state of the nation that Luxembourg would vote in favour of this controversial agreement. This comes after Luxembourg had been extremely sceptical about the agreement for years.

The deal: tariffs on cars, chocolate and dairy products from the EU are to be reduced on the one hand, and those on agricultural fuels, sugar and beef from South America on the other.

Numerous agricultural associations from the EU – including Luxembourg – are opposed to this agreement, as are environmental and cooperation organisations.

The organisations unanimously believe that the agreement would accelerate environmental destruction at the expense of the people in the countries affected.

The result, according to Antônio Inácio Andrioli in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung: “Environmental standards in South America are low, and toxins from Bayer and BASF that have long been banned in the EU are used extensively in agriculture. The EU will import even more genetically modified soy from monocultures for factory farming. This promotes concentration processes in agriculture in South America. Large landowners will profit, while small farmers and indigenous peoples will lose their land and even more rainforest will be cleared. Mercosur promotes hunger, misery and environmental destruction.”

During the event, Antônio Inácio Andrioli will outline the consequences of the Mercosur agreement and, based on his knowledge of Brazil, explain how small farmers feel about the agreement.

Above all, however, he will discuss alternatives to such trade agreements and the political decisions required to achieve them.

After the conference, there will be an opportunity for discussion with the speaker.

After the event, you are cordially invited to a ‘Patt’.

Please register in advance to help us with the organisation: meco@oeko.lu

About the speaker:

Antônio Inácio Andrioli was born in southern Brazil, the son of a soy farmer with roots in Bavaria and South Tyrol. After training as an agricultural technician, he studied philosophy, psychology and sociology. With a scholarship from Bread for the World, he completed his doctorate in Osnabrück on the effects of genetically modified soy on agriculture in his homeland.

He qualified as a professor in Linz, but returned to Brazil in 2009 after being appointed to the founding committee of a new state university – a university focusing, among other things, on sustainable agriculture. This university has the highest proportion of indigenous students, many of whom come from families where they are the first to attend university. Due to massive pressure from the former far-right Bolsonaro government, Andrioli was forced to resign from his position as Vice President of the university