The outcome of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) will determine what happens with other trade deals such as TTIP and Mercosur, Sinn Fein MEP Matt Carthy has said.
Speaking to Agriland, he said that the European Parliament is to vote in February on a provisional green light to the deal and the evidence points to the parliament voting for it.
“You can’t look at a trade deal in isolation. If you look at each deal in isolation you’re doing Irish farmers a disservice.
“If we can frustrate the ratification of CETA, we can push back the Mercosur and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
“After ratification in the European Parliament, CETA has to come before the Dail and other national parliaments [in the other Member States].
“If the European Council and European Parliament have adopted it, then there will be huge pressure on national parliaments to agree to it. The time to block CETA is now.”
On Mercosur, Carthy said that it is the very large corporations that will benefit and that agriculture will become more dependent on the larger processors.
“Meat Industry Ireland (the body representing the meat factories) know it will mean more meat is coming into the EU. They think it will depress the prices paid to Irish farmers.”
Carthy said that the Irish Government needs to tell the European Commission that Ireland won’t support a trade deal with Mercosur that includes agriculture.
Meanwhile, the Irish MEP said that Northern Ireland needs to remain part of the EU otherwise there’ll be no such thing as a soft border.
“Any hardening of the border is bad for all-Ireland trade. We need to ensure that the North is protected in all of this. The people of the North voted to remain.
“The Irish Government needs to demand it. We can’t depend on Britain or Stormont, especially following this week’s events (Martin McGuinness resigning as Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland).
“We need to see the Irish Government making it clear [on the issue of the North].”