Mercosur: 'We are still working on SPS safeguards' - Taoiseach
Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, today (Thursday, December 18) said Ireland is "still working" on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) safeguards in relation to the Mercosur trade agreement.
Speaking in Brussels today as he attended a European Council meeting the Taoiseach also stated that Ireland has concerns "about what is coming that do not meet with European standards".
Micheál Martin said Ireland would "work with other like-minded countries" in relation to Mercosur.
"There is no sense that there will be a resolution to that this week, at the moment I don't see a prospect of that but one never knows there could be further negotiations before this week is up," the Taoiseach added.
He believes that over the last 12 months there has been a "significant change in terms of the level of the safeguards and the status of those safeguards in the context of it being a legal instrument that the commission has agreed to".
"It is a much stronger agreement from a safeguard perspective than it originally was," the Taoiseach added.
Mercosur
In the Dáil today, the Independent Ireland TD, Michael Fitzmaurice, challenged the Tánaiste Simon Harris to answer yes or no on whether the Irish government would block the Mercosur deal.
Deputy Fitzmaurice said: "At the moment, we are like a seesaw; we are neither one way nor the other.
"We have to step up and make a decision in order to provide clarity for farmers".
The Tánaiste told the Dáil that "Ireland is working with like-minded countries, which currently have a blocking minority on the Mercosur deal.
"We have significant concerns about the deal in its current form. We do not intend to do anything that ends the blocking minority".
Simon Harris also said that he believes it "is highly unlikely that there will be a vote before the end of the year" on Mercosur.
"That is indicative of the fact that I do not believe that the blocking minority has disappeared," he added.
According to the Tánaiste, he shares the French position that there should not be a vote on Mercosur this side of Christmas.
"I do not see the issue as one of sides but in terms of what is the outcome.
"Is the outcome that there is enough of a qualified majority vote to stop the agreement being passed or not? Ireland certainly will not be the one to dissolve that blocking minority - far from it," he stated.
