France and Ireland declare opposition to trade deal over Amazon fires

France and Ireland have said they will oppose an EU trade deal with South American countries unless Brazil takes action to stop the burning of the Amazon.

On the eve of a meeting of the G7 nations in Biarritz, an Élysée source said Emmanuel Macron thought Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, “lied” to him at the G20 meeting in Osaka in June about his climate commitments and therefore France would oppose the Mercosur treaty.

“The decisions and comments of Brazil show that President Bolsonaro has decided not to respect his commitments on the climate or biodiversity,” a French official told AFP.

The Mercosur (Southern Common Market) treaty with four Latin American countries – Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay – was signed in June after two decades of negotiation but has not yet been ratified.

Earlier on Friday, Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said his government would oppose Mercosur’s ratification.

“There is no way that Ireland will vote for the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement if Brazil does not honour its environmental commitments,” Varadkar said.

Provisionally agreed in June 2019 after some 20 years of negotiating, the EU has signed a trade agreement with the Mercosur nations - Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The agreement will cover a combined population of 780 million, making it one of the largest ever trading bloc arrangements by size.

EU's exports to the Mercosur countries totalled €45bn in 2018. Goods travelling in the other direction amounted to €42.6bn in 2018. The EU is the biggest foreign investor in the region - €381bn in 2017. Trade in services between the two regions was valued at €34bn in 2017.

Critics of the deal have said that it has taken too long to sign, and that with the climate emergency, a deal that will facilitate the easier shipping of animal products across hemispheres conflicts with the EU's stated aim to reduce greenhouse emissions.

As a result of the deal, EU companies will save €4bn worth of duties per year. Since 2014, EU trade agreements with 15 countries have entered into force, notably with Canada and Japan.

Ireland would need other EU members to help form a blocking minority to stop the deal being passed, but it could be the most feasible form of international leverage on President Jair Bolsonaro to replace protections he has removed and curb the destruction of the rainforest and the lives of indigenous people of the Amazon.

Macron has declared the Amazonian fires an international crisis, adding that the issue would be at the top of the agenda at the G7 summit this weekend in the French seaside town of Biarritz. However, Bolsonaro is likely to be defended by Donald Trump, who regards the far-right Brazilian leader as a close regional ally and has ignored the science underlying the climate crisis.

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The German government has not so far mentioned the fate of Mercosur, but it has – along with Norway – halted donations to the Brazilian government’s Amazon fund. The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson has said he is “deeply concerned” by the fires in the Amazon, but the government has so far not commented on the fate of Mercosur, which is only due to be ratified in two years, long after Brexit is due.

Varadkar described as “Orwellian” Bolsonaro’s efforts to blame environmental groups for the wildfires consuming the Amazon.

He added: “There is no way we can tell Irish and European farmers to use fewer pesticides, less fertiliser, embrace biodiversity and plant more of their land and expect them to do it, if we do not make trade deals contingent on decent environmental, labour and product standards.”