Taoiseach Simon Harris has been called on to state “adamant opposition” to the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement ahead of meetings next week between officials from the two blocs.
The meeting is understood to be aimed at ironing out obstacles to ratifying the agreement, including concerns over the impact of deforestation in South America.
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) said that the meeting “provides the government with a perfect opportunity to put its money where its mouth is in terms of a commitment to Ireland’s farm and agri-sector.”
Denis Drennan, the ICMSA president, called on the Taoiseach to make a public statement to the effect that Ireland will not ratify the trade agreement based on its existing proposals.
“It is simply impossible to demand that Irish and other EU famers both lower emissions and meet a raft of regulations on food standards and traceability, while green lighting a trade agreement that will entail radically lower standards for the South American imports envisaged,” Drennan said.
Among its many provisions, the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement would allow up to an additional 99,000t of beef from its four member countries – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – enter the EU tariff-free.
Mancy concerns have been raised over the environmental footprint of this beef, specifically Brazilian beef which is understood to be a driver of deforestation in the country.
The beef and slaughter sectors in several of these states is significantly below EU standards. That fact does represent a threat to consumers’ health that can’t – and certainly shouldn’t – be ignored.
“There’s no reason at all to even consider this idea bar the wish of certain retail corporations to source environmentally destructive and substandard beef to undercut indigenous EU beef produced to the highest standards on the planet,” Drennan added.
He said that the Taoiseach has already indicated support for Irish farming in several of his public remarks, and that farmers will expect him to emphasise “national opposition” to the agreement.
The ICMSA also drew attention to the fact that a general election is looming at a time when farmer incomes have seen a “double-digit percentage collapse”.
“Farmers need to hear from the Taoiseach on this matter and the idea that we are not going to notice silence on a reheated Mercosur agreement is going to reinforce the already justified perception that we have a government that just doesn’t care about our farming and wider agri-sector.
“We cannot insist on EU farmers meeting the highest standards while simultaneously negotiating for the importation of food that will come nowhere near the same standards. That being the case, we await the Taoiseach’s confirmation of Ireland’s continuing opposition to any possibility of a Mercosur agreement,” Drennan said.
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