The Irish government is being called on to “categorically commit to opposing” the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement by one member of the European Parliament (MEP).
Billy Kelleher, Fianna Fail MEP for the Ireland South constituency, argued that the deal is “bad for the planet; bad for Irish farmers; and should be rejected in its entirety”.
“It is beyond absurd for Ireland to support a deal that facilitates the bulldozing of the Amazon Rainforest…to enable Brazil to produce hundreds of millions of cattle to be shipped across the Atlantic to European markets,” Kelleher said.
The MEP also raised concerns for indigenous people who live in these areas of Brazil – which, along with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, comprise the Mercosur bloc.
The Mercosur deal will see the potential for an additional 99,000t of beef from those countries entering the EU without facing tariffs. This increase to the ‘tariff rate quota’ would be phased in over time in the event the deal is ratified.
Kelleher claimed that the deal is “being driven by Germany in order to enable German car manufacturers sell their cars to motorists in South America”.
“The objective of the EU’s flagship food programme, the Farm to Fork Strategy, is to have high-quality food produced as locally as possible,” he pointed out.
“No one will ever convince me that poor-quality Brazilian beef will ever match grass-fed Irish beef.”
The Cork native went on: “The Mercosur deal would see EU markets flooded with cheap, low-quality beef from Brazil at a time when domestic beef farmers are already under pressure.
“It makes zero sense from an agricultural or environmental point of view, and that’s why Ireland must take a stand at EU level,” Kelleher added.
He highlighted that, in July 2019, the Dáil voted to pass a motion condemning the deal. In the motion, Fianna Fáil TDs voted “in favour of text that stated that the motion should be binding on all future governments”.
“My party’s ministers and the TDs should look back at what they voted in favour of in 2019 and stay faithful to that position while in government,” Kelleher urged.
“Mercosur is a poor deal for our planet and our farmers. The government must reject it,” he concluded.