The approval of the EU-Mercosur “free trade” agreement by the government and the EU constitutes yet another blow to farmers. Once again, this agreement exposes the true face of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): soaring production costs combined with derisory product prices, all in the service of safeguarding agribusinesses profits and accelerating the destruction of toiling farmers.
The agreement —also supported by the Greek government— provides for the abolition of customs duties with the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia). It covers 91% of EU exports, primarily cars, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Business groups are expected to save approximately €4 billion annually, while “duty-free” access will enable them to secure even cheaper energy and critical raw materials.
Beyond the damage already inflicted by the CAP, this agreement will further squeeze the incomes of small-scale farmers and livestock breeders, who will be forced to compete with massive imports of cheap products such as beef, sugar, and honey from Latin America. At the same time, the government openly reveals the agreement’s true purpose by claiming that it “creates new opportunities for Greek export companies”. This confirms that, in the interests of industrial and export monopolies, toiling farmers are being sacrificed to unfair competition.
In its statement on the EU-Mercosur agreement, the Press Office of the Central Committee of the KKE stresses the following:
“The approval of the ‘free trade’ agreement between the EU and the Mercosur countries by the New Democracy government constitutes yet another hostile act against toiling farmers, livestock breeders, beekeepers, and fishermen, at a time when they are waging a heroic struggle at the roadblocks for their very survival.
For the sake of industrial and export monopolies, the government is exposing toiling farmers to unfair competition from products produced with cheap labour and laden with pesticides, hormones, and other substances banned in the EU.
This is the true face of the CAP: on the one hand, exorbitant production costs; on the other, ‘open doors’ for the profits of business groups. The Commission’s announcements of €45 billion in advance subsidies for the period 2028–2034 are merely the ‘cheese’ in the mousetrap, intended to ‘sweeten the pill’ of the plundering of farmers. The government's claims of ‘strong safeguards’ and protection of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) products are a provocative mockery.
This agreement directly undermines the satisfaction of social needs for quality and affordable food. The people will pay more for imported products of dubious quality, while domestic production capacity is sacrificed on the altar of monopoly competition.
Ensuring affordable, high-quality food is therefore inseparably linked to the survival of the peasantry, making their struggle a cause for the entire population.
The approval of the agreement does not mark the end of the battle. The sea of struggles by workers, farmers, and the people as a whole has the power not only to limit its consequences, but also to break every bond, cancel anti-popular plans, and overturn everything, asserting the rights of the many against the profits of monopolies and the commitments to the EU.”