EU accused of betraying animal welfare in ‘Mercosur’ trade pact
· EUobserverA cattle farm in Argentina (Source: Animal Welfare Foundation | Tierschutzbund Zürich)
EU accused of betraying animal welfare in ‘Mercosur’ trade pact
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By Gaia Neiman,
Brussels
,
A recently launched EU-Mercosur free trade deal spanning Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay has raised alarm over poor animal welfare standards in the livestock industry.
What was promised in the agreement was “we were going to align our standards with Mercosur countries and apply our EU animal welfare standards on imported products; that is not the reality on the ground,” said Carlos Jalil at Eurogroup for Animals, an advocacy organisation, speaking to EUobserver on Wednesday (6 May).
The agreement, covering one of the world’s largest free-trade areas, provisionally entered into force on 1 May, despite pending approval from the European Parliament.
The long-negotiated deal reduces tariffs and eases imports with EU member states and global leaders in beef production in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
The urgency of the pact followed mounting tensions with the EU’s primary trade partner, the US.
But despite its benefits, advocacy groups say insufficient protections have been negotiated to enforce European standards on deforestation and animal welfare.
The EU-Mercosur deal spoke of “alignment of production standards between domestic and imported products,” but Jalil said it risked promoting intensive animal agriculture outside Europe.
Footage released by the Animal Welfare Foundation group, who have been studying animals in feedlots across the Southern American continent, illustrated a clear lack of hygiene, with animals lying in muddy excrement, given turbid drinking water, and access to cramped outdoor spaces.
Animals were prone to disease and often overweight, but “EU trade policy has mostly focused on the final product but not what happens before and how products are made,” said Jilal.
The beef already imported from these lots is raised on a majority concentrated feed diet, rather than one of grass or hay.
And “the EU is obviously aware of these feed lot conditions,” said Sabrina Gurtner, who is a project manager at the Animal Welfare Foundation.
The footage, collected since August 2025, spans months of gruelling conditions for animals, with the group to release a short film to document their findings on 22 May.
“Animal welfare does not play an important role in EU inspections,” said Gurtner, adding that the EU’s primary concern was food safety.
EU authorities have taken some steps to safeguard caged animals in Europe, but these “will not help offset the effect of Mercosur, since we import chickens and livestock from them,” also said Eurogroup for Animals’ Jilal.
In 2024, half of all bovine meat imports to the EU were from Mercosur nations.
The advocacy groups expect change to come, mostly pushed by greater attention by EU consumers to ethics.
An Eurobarometer survey from 2023 showed that 84 percent of Europeans demanded better protection of farmed animals, and many expressed concern at the possible decrease in quality of the meat market following the Mercosur deal.
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A cattle farm in Argentina (Source: Animal Welfare Foundation | Tierschutzbund Zürich)
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Author Bio
Gaia Neiman is a junior migration and politics reporter at the EUobserver. She has previously written for Reuters, The Guardian, The Telegraph, among others.