The Government’s decision to vote against the EU-Mercosur trade agreement is not only the right call for farmers in County Laois, but for the protection of Ireland’s entire agri-food sector, according to Fine Gael TD, Willie Aird.
The European Union–Mercosur free trade agreement is a proposed free trade agreement on which the European Union and a South American trade block can be established.
Its full members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Venezuela is a full member but has been suspended since 1 December 2016.
Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Peru, and Suriname are associate countries.
The deal will allow increased access to the European market for Mercosur’s agricultural goods, notably beef, poultry, sugar and ethanol.
The deal will probably also be good for Brazilian juice exporters and Argentine fish exporters. It will also remove 91% of tariffs on EU exports to the Mercosur countries.
The most vocal sector in Ireland opposing the deal is the farmers and representative organisations.
Beef farmers in particular are concerned about the impact of the quota of 99,000 tonnes of beef, which is proposed in the revised agreement with Irish farmers, maintaining that it will drop the prices of beef in the EU. These 99,000 tonnes of beef correspond to 1.5% of the EU’s total production.
The usual tariff on beef imports from Mercosur is around 40% to 45%, with the revised Agreement, a tariff rate quota of 7.5% will apply to a limited amount of beef.
There will be two different quotas on imported beef. 55% of the quota will consist of fresh or chilled meat, and 45% of lower-value frozen meat. Irish beef farmers are particularly concerned about the fresh beef quota, as these imports will affect high-value cuts.
There are safeguards in place as part of the deal in an effort to protect EU farmers against any sudden increase in imports.
These safeguard clause was dubbed “purely cosmetic” and “a political fig leaf” by Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) President Francie Gorman.
A vote on the deal will take place today and Ireland have signaled that they will vote against.
Deputy Aird said: “This decision is a clear demonstration that this Government will stand firmly with Irish farmers.
“We will not support any trade deal that undermines the high-quality, high-standards food system that our farming families work tirelessly to uphold.
“We will always defended the integrity of Irish agriculture.
“Farmers here operate to some of the highest environmental, animal welfare and food safety standards in the world.
“Any trade agreement must match those standards and support—not jeopardise—our climate ambitions and rural communities.
“In its current form, the Mercosur deal falls far short. It does not provide the guarantees Irish farmers deserve, nor does it align with the EU’s own environmental and sustainability commitments.”
Deputy Aird added that Ireland’s stance sends a strong and unambiguous signal at EU level.
He said: “We will not allow economic opportunity to come at the cost of human health, rural livelihoods or climate responsibility.
“Ireland will always back fair, sustainable trade—but we will never sign up to a deal that puts our farmers at an unfair disadvantage.”
