Friends of the Earth Europe

The EU Commission is trying to lower EU food safety standards as part of a rushed trade deal with the USA, according to statements from senior trade officials.

EU trade commissioner Hogan and other trade officials have confirmed their intention to reduce ‘non-tariff’ barriers on farm goods in trade negotiations. This could bring unsafe food, only tested for lower US standards, on European consumers’ plates.

EU Commission president von der Leyen has said she wants to push the trade deal through in a few weeks to avoid any new tariffs on EU/German car exports.

by Jagoda Munić, director of Friends of the Earth Europe

“I want you to act as if our house is on fire”, climate activist Greta Thunberg told politicians at the World Economic Forum in January this year, seeking to motivate them to urgently put a stop to runaway climate change.

In an open letter published today, over 340 civil society organisations are demanding that the European Union immediately halt free trade agreement negotiations with the Mercosur bloc (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) on the grounds of deteriorating human rights and environmental conditions in Brazil.

EU Member States in the European Council have today agreed to start negotiating a new EU-US trade deal.

The talks were de facto approved despite promises by French President Macron and EU Trade Commissioner Malmström that the EU would not negotiate a trade agreement with countries that have not signed the Paris agreement on climate change.