Irish beef farmers are depending on EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed to strongly oppose any offer on beef in Mercosur trade negotiations.
This was the opinion of IFA (Irish Farmers’ Association) President Joe Healy following leaks from Brussels that the EU Commission is about to make an offer on beef in the Mercosur talks.
Healy said: “Now is the time for Commissioner Hogan to put his foot down in Brussels and stop any sell-out of the beef sector.”
The president said it is incredible that the EU Commission is intending to proceed with an offer on beef considering the uncertainty and possible cliff edge facing the Irish and EU beef sector in Brexit. The ongoing scandals emerging from the main Mercosur country – Brazil – was also highlighted. Now is not the time to make any concessions to the South American countries, Healy added.
IFA National Livestock Chairman Angus Woods said the IFA met with Commissioner Hogan last week and made very clear Ireland’s strong opposition to any offer on beef which would involve concessions to the Brazilians and others in Mercosur.
Elaborating, Woods said: “Proposals to allow the Brazilians to convert cooked corn beef imports into steak cuts would be extremely damaging.
We cannot hand over any more of our high-value steak market in the EU to Brazil and Argentina.
The chairman stressed that the Mercosur countries already have too much access to the European market with up to 74% of all EU beef imports amounting to 246,000t (carcase weight equivalent) every year.
Woods said the commission is far too lenient with Brazil and others over their continuing failure to meet EU standards on the key issues of traceability, food safety, animal health and the environment.
Concluding, the chairman said the fact remains that the EU relies on the Brazilian authorities to certify beef imports and the record shows that they are not capable of meeting EU standards.