Senior representatives from the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) delivered a letter of protest over the proposed Mercosur trade deal to the EU Commission office in Dublin today (Wednesday, December 12).
IFA president, Francie Gorman, who led the delegation of IFA representatives, said that Mercosur negotiations “had ramped up” despite ongoing opposition to the proposed deal in many EU member states.
Gorman, who is also vice-president of Copa, the European umbrella group of farming organisations, accused the European Commission of “trying to take advantage of political uncertainty in France to drive the deal through this week”.
“This deal is the height of hypocrisy. There will be no level playing field for EU farmers.
“Our markets will be undermined by cheap imports produced to lower standards.
“If this deal is concluded by the commission, it will need to be approved by the EU council of member states where there is still significant opposition to any deal being concluded,” Gorman said.
Mercosur
According to the IFA the proposed Mercosur deal has the “potential to decimate the Irish and European beef and poultry sectors”.
The IFA Livestock chair Declan Hanrahan, members of the IFA National Livestock Committee and IFA national treasurer Patrick McCormick were among the IFA representatives who handed in the letter of protest to the EU Commission office in Dublin today.
They have highlighted that among the core reasons why the IFA is opposing the proposed deal is that it could result in increased imports of tariff free beef and poultry from countries into the EU “which have a competitive advantage due to the lower production regulations and standards”.
The IFA also believes there “is a clear absence of a robust tracing system for suppliers of beef cattle from Brazil to the EU market”.
“Cattle are not foreseen to be fully traceable there until 2032.
“The EU cannot conclude a trade deal with such divergence of standards. Commission Audits of Brazilian Beef and Poultry as recent as April 2024 clearly demonstrate this gap in standards,” the farming organisation warned.
In addition to this it believes there is a “lack of transparency surrounding cattle transfer permits in Brazil”.
“This month the Brazilian environment protection agency IBAMA imposed fines of R$365m (€59 million) on farms and meat packers for raising or buying cattle on illegally deforested land in the Amazon.
“The potential economic impact of this deal on Irish farming is frightening,” the IFA stated.
According to Gorman both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste told the IFA National Council during the General Election campaign that they “were opposed to the Mercosur deal”.
“They must carry this commitment forward and relay it at the highest level in Brussels,” he urged.
Nolan
Separately the Independent TD for Offaly, Carol Nolan, today also accused the Irish Government of adopting a “dangerously ambivalent negotiating posture with respect to the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.”
Deputy Nolan said: “As I understand it the Irish Government has failed to formally notify the European Commission regarding Ireland’s outright opposition to Mercosur. Instead, it appears to have relied on issuing fairly weak expressions of concern.
“Our farmers and producers will take no comfort from the fact that government is merely, to use its own language, ‘closely monitoring developments.’”
“This deal is being pushed through to satisfy and placate the economic interests of larger EU member states such as Germany at the expense of Irish agriculture”.