The world's biodiversity must not be concentrated in the hands of a few. Europe should say no to mergers between multinationals, out of respect for farmers and consumers. An editorial by Navdanya International.
The only responsible decision for the European Union is to block the Bayer-Monsanto merger. The news coming from Brussels, which has pushed back to 5 April the deadline for the verdict on the merger between Monsanto and Bayer (worth over 63 billion dollars), is not very reassuring: European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who has already approved the merger of DuPont with Dow Chemical (a deal worth 122–130 billion dollars) and ChemChina's acquisition of Syngenta (a 43 billion dollar deal), has stated that Bayer is responding in a "cooperative" manner to the concerns raised about the merger. Bayer has in fact opted to sell its global seed business and to grant the chemical company Basf exclusive access to its digital agriculture data.
Vestager's statements seem to foreshadow a possible green light for the merger, which would overturn the demands of hundreds of civil rights movements and farmers' organisations around the world. Mergers between the large agribusiness multinationals are, in fact, a further step in the wrong direction — one that shifts power away from the hands of small and medium-sized farmers and delivers it into the hands of large multinational corporations that aim to achieve a monopoly in the agriculture and food sectors.
The process we are witnessing can no longer be treated as a simple discussion about commercial competition, as Vestager has suggested, stressing that the Commission's role is not to block the merger but to ensure that the process does not harm competition. We are, in fact, facing a political emergency with significant economic repercussions. Through patents, intellectual property rights (Ipr) and free trade agreements, large multinational corporations have established monopolies, threatening farmers' rights to use their own seeds, people's rights to access affordable medicines, and consumers' rights to a healthy and nutritious diet.
In little more than half a century, small farmers have been attacked everywhere to the advantage of the toxic production system of industrial agriculture. The six large multinational corporations that hold control over the global production of seeds, pesticides and biotechnologies now want to extend their empire through mega-acquisitions. If these mergers were to receive final approval, just three companies would have control of 60 per cent of the world's seeds and 70 per cent of agrochemical and pesticide products.
This is a strategy designed to extend multinationals' control not only over our food but over our democracy. Through aggressive mergers these large corporations are expanding their markets and, by directly approaching policymakers, are simultaneously increasing their influence and pressure on governments and institutions. Through propaganda they are also discrediting independent science to ensure that health and environmental regulations do not interfere with their profit-making activities, thereby driving the ever greater erosion of our democratic principles. By expanding their monopolies over seeds and food, chemicals and medicines, multinationals are increasing their control over our food and our health. The negative effects of this system fall most heavily on small and medium-sized producers and on less affluent consumers.
Regulatory authorities should therefore oppose the merger in order to protect the citizens they represent. The deal, which was announced in September 2016, requires the approval of around 30 countries. Bayer still faces major investigations into the Monsanto deal by regulatory authorities in the United States, the European Union and India. While Brazil, one of the leading producers of cereals and other agricultural products, has just given its approval to the merger, Bayer has decided to take the Russian antitrust regulator to court. Igor Artemiev, head of the Russian antitrust body, has revealed that Bayer has sued the regulatory agency.
In India too, where the integration process is subject to approval by the Competition Commission of India (Cci), the debate involves many actors from civil society. After the merger, India would be one of the key reference markets for Bayer's research and development, as stated by Bayer CropScience chief executive Richard van der Merwe. Van der Merwe's goal is to obtain Cci approval by May. But opposition to the merger in India is growing, in particular due to the negative impacts of GM crops on the environment and the economy.
Read also: "India must be capable of saying no to Monsanto". 20 years of fraud and corruption, from cotton to GM mustard
Expressing concern about the merger between Monsanto and Bayer, Indian activist and president of Navdanya International Vandana Shiva submitted an official objection to the Competition Commission of India: "The Bayer-Monsanto merger is not an arithmetical question of economic concentration but a political problem, given that these mergers will mark the end of people's rights, democracy and constitutional guarantees. For twenty years Monsanto has illegally taken possession of the cotton seed sector in India, violating biosafety laws and bribing regulatory agencies."