The proposed EU-Mercosur trade deal poses “an existential threat to Irish farmers and environment”, according to an Irish MEP.
Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus, who is a member of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee, has hit out at Brussels in its new attempts to force through the free trade agreement (FTA).
The EU and the Mercosur bloc of South American economies are aiming to finalise the trade deal this year.
Both the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the Brazilian President Lula da Silva have reaffirmed their commitment to ratify the agreement “as soon as possible”.
“Our ambition is to settle any remaining differences as soon as possible, so that we can conclude this agreement,” von der Leyen said on Monday (July 17) during a summit between the EU and Latin American and Caribbean countries (EU-CELAC) in Brussels.
EU-Mercosur deal
However, Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus said that “the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement is a betrayal of our farmers and the environment”.
“This agreement would allow for an additional 99,000t of beef from the South America trade association to enter the EU tariff-free. Any such deal would saturate our market at the expense of Irish farmers.
“Outside of Europe, farmers are often held to much lower sustainability, regulatory and ethical standards, resulting in a cheaper and lower quality product that is sourced and produced unsustainably,” he said.
“This free trade deal does nothing more than serve the interests of multinationals at the expense of the farmers, human rights and the rainforests.
“In 2019, the deforestation was over 10,000km². That’s over half the size of my home province, Connacht.
“Mercosur is one of those areas where the views of farmers and environmentalists are very clearly aligned which is always welcome when it does happen.
“I think mutual cooperation and understanding between both is a principle and a practice that needs to be pursued by all sides,” MacManus added.
“It makes very little sense to be burning down South American rainforests to create farmland to in turn ship thousands of tonnes of inferior meat thousands of miles to eventually undercut our own producers,” he said.
The MEP called on Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party to clarify their stance on the deal.
The EU-Mercosur FTA was agreed in 2019 but its ratification has been stalled due to concerns raised by member states, including Ireland.
These concerns include deforestation in Brazil, the potential impact of imports on the EU beef market and the imposition of stricter standards on EU farmers compared to primary producers in the Mercosur countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Earlier this year, the EU sent a letter to the Mercosur countries seeking more commitments on sustainability and climate change.