ICMSA: Commission move to ratify Mercosur a 'calculated betrayal'
The decision by European Commission to adopt a proposal to ratify the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement is a “a calculated betrayal”.
That is the view of the president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICSMA) Denis Drennan.
The commission today (Wednesday, September 3) said that the "landmark" deal is a "critical part of the EU's strategy to diversify its trade relations and strengthen economic and political ties with like-minded partners around the world".
However, Drennan said the Irish government must now "dig in" to protect our "critical interest in maintaining our beef exports".
The ICMSA president said that Ireland and the other member states with large agriculture sectors are "entitled to insist on a minimum level of consistency from the commission".
He added that the decision to proceed with ratification represented the abandonment of any pretence at consistency and reason.
“How can anybody imagine that we can have Irish and other EU farmers practically drowning in a relentless tide of EU micro-regulations on the environment and sustainability, while the very same EU concludes a trade agreement that will see massive imports of beef and other foodstuffs produced in an environmental free-for-all and without a semblance of sustainability?
"If this proceeds then it becomes the ‘gold standard’ in international and institutional hypocrisy and double standards," Drennan said.
He said that Irish farmers producing beef subject to "the most stringent sustainability and environmental regulations and oversight imaginable" would have their beef side-by-side on European supermarket shelves with cheaper South American beef "produced to notably lower standards of regulation".
Drennan called on the Irish government to make a united case with other member states – most specifically, France – and form a blocking element that will halt any ratification process.
