Greens oppose Habeck and Co. on Mercosur.
The German government has been struggling for months to reach a trade agreement with Latin America, led by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Habeck and his State Secretary Brantner. But the grassroots are revolting. At the party conference in Karlsruhe, the delegates write an amendment to the European election program that is quite something.
Few countries have received as many visits from German government representatives in the past twelve years as Brazil. Since the election of President Lula, the country has not only been courted in the conflict with Russia, but is also a key partner for a central project of Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck: concluding the Mercosur trade agreement - with the large economies of Brazil and Argentina as key partners - and preferably in the current year. However, the party's own base is opposed: at the federal party conference in Karlsruhe, 53% of delegates voted for an amendment to the European election program. It now states: "We reject the EU-Mercosur agreement in its current form."
The Green federal ministers are not bound by the election manifesto when it is finally adopted on Sunday, especially as the agreement no longer needs to be ratified by the EU member states. Nevertheless, this will not make the work in the federal government or the relationship between the party base and the party leadership any easier. After all, the Greens' members will be taking the program into the European election campaign in the spring with a paper that contradicts the actions of their own federal ministers.
After the federal chairpersons Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour were elected for a further term of office on Friday with scores of around 80 percent each and the federal ministers Habeck and Annalena Baerbock were applauded, the Mercosur vote marks the first major dissent. A passionate debate is also expected in the evening when it comes to the Greens' asylum policy.
Sanctions demanded
The amended program text now calls for renegotiations "to achieve fundamental changes for a fair, ecological and post-colonial agreement". In particular, the authors advocated for trade preferences granted to be suspended as a form of sanction if a partner country fails to meet its social, environmental and climate commitments. This reflects the concerns of advocates of the changes that the agreement could fuel the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, for example for the cultivation of soy products for export to the EU. Prior to the trade fair in Karlsruhe, activists from the environmental organization Greenpeace, a natural ally for many party members, had called on the Greens to reverse their position.
Before the vote, Green Party parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge and Habeck's responsible State Secretary Franziska Brantner urgently warned against changing the original text. Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had also argued that "trade agreements between value partners, between democracies and Latin American democracies can not only work, but are more than just a trade agreement". Europe must forge new alliances in the global struggle with autocracies.
China instead of the EU?
"We don't have a dispute here, and we shouldn't allow ourselves to be talked into one," said Baerbock, only to discover hours later that there are indeed profound differences within the party on the subject. Members of the Bundestag Kathrin Henneberger and Karl Bär spoke in favor of the amendment. Because the subsequent vote by hand was so close, ballot papers had to be counted. In Brantner's view, it would be difficult to implement the amended text in practice: "The Brazilians would not let the Europeans tell them how to protect the rainforest, while Europe no longer has any virgin forest at all," said the Parliamentary State Secretary.
Dröge and Brantner also warned against leaving Latin America to China without the trade agreement, which takes no account at all of ecological and social standards in its economic relations. Following the election of populist Javier Milei as Argentinian President, the Mercosur agreement is also in question. In addition to Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay are also Mercosur states. In 2019, after almost two decades of negotiations, an agreement in principle was concluded to facilitate mutual market access and investment.
The Greens themselves had harshly criticized the agreement for many years, but since joining the federal government, they believe they have been able to negotiate significant changes for the better in terms of environmental protection and social standards. This was not enough for 53% of party delegates.
Despite their support for Federal Minister Habeck in securing the Mercosur trade agreement, a significant portion of the Green party's delegates at the Karlsruhe conference voted against the EU-Mercosur agreement in its current form, requiring renegotiations for a fair, ecological, and post-colonial agreement. This stance was taken due to concerns that the agreement could exacerbate deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
Annalena Baerbock, the Green Party's foreign minister, advocated for maintaining trade agreements between democracies, stating that such agreements can work and are beneficial beyond just trade, while also emphasizing the importance of forging new alliances in the global struggle against autocracies.
Source: www.ntv.de
