The announcement this Friday of the European Commission’s intention to proceed with the provisional application of the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement, despite increasingly worrying recent developments, could only be perceived by the farming sector, gathered today in Brussels at the Praesidia of Copa and Cogeca, as a disregard for the well-founded concerns we have been raising for years alongside environmental organisations, labour unions, and consumer groups regarding the impacts of this agreement.
These concerns relate not only to increased import volumes, which put pressure especially on sensitive sectors such as beef, poultry, and sugar, but also to persistent asymmetries in production standards, environmental requirements, animal welfare rules, use of plant protection products, and labour standards, on which the EU has obtained no guarantees capable of truly reassuring producers and consumers. The recent DG SANTE audit report on beef and the continued use of hormones only reinforces these concerns for both producers and consumers.
It is therefore deeply troubling that the agreement is being pushed through under provisional application, not only disregarding the farming community’s concerns, but also contradicting repeated assurances by the Commission that such a far-reaching and controversial trade agreement would not be implemented without comprehensive Parliamentary consent, especially following the recent ECJ referral vote.
Trade policy must not come at the expense of Europe’s agricultural model. The farming sector is already under significant economic pressure due to rising input costs, climate challenges, and market volatility. Proceeding in this manner will leave a lasting political mark and risks further undermining trust between European institutions and rural communities.
Fonte: Copa Cogeca
