Eu Trade Commissioner Is Undermining Eu Policies on Climate Change and Animal Welfare in Mercosur Negotiations

Speaking from Brussels, where the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations are set to resume with a Ministerial meeting this week, IFA President Joe Healy said this is ‘crunch time’. Agriculture Minister Michael Creed and EU Commissioner Phil Hogan must stand up to Trade Commissioner Malmstrom against her sell out to the Brazilians on beef in the negotiations.

He said, “This week is the real test. Commissioner Malmstrom has already conceded way too much in the giveaway of an additional 70,000t of EU beef market access. Now the Brazilians want more. Ireland and Commissioner Hogan need to say bluntly: enough is enough”.

Joe Healy accused the EU Trade Commissioner from Sweden of blatantly undermining European policy and values on the environment and animal welfare. “There is a clear contradiction at EU level. One arm of the Commission is prepared to do this deal and undermine the environment and animal welfare, while European farmers are asked to play their part on climate change and maintain the highest welfare standards.”

“How can Commissioner Malmstrom ignore the fact that the growth in Brazilian beef exports is driven by the destruction of the Amazon rainforests? The carbon footprint of a kg of Brazilian beef is four times that of EU production. Brazil has 226m cattle to Ireland’s 6m. There are no controls on animal welfare in Brazil. Slave labour is widespread in rural areas and in the beef sector.”

The IFA President said European consumers want food that is produced sustainably, is safe and healthy, protects the environment, helps fight climate change, respects the animals, is fair to farmers and which is produced in the EU. Commissioner Malmstrom seems prepared to turn her back on these fundamental EU principles to do a deal at any cost with the Brazilians.

He said Brazilian beef is not sustainable in terms of its failure to meet EU standards on the key issues of traceability, food safety, animal welfare and the environment. “The Weak Flesh fraud highlighted again the food safety issues with Brazilian meat, where there are little or no controls on the use of hormones, drugs and beta-agonists which are all banned in the EU.”

 

The IFA President said with Brexit threatening over half of our export market for beef to the UK, it is lunacy for the EU to be considering a deal which will involve increased beef imports into the single market at this time.

With the Brazilian election campaign set to kick off at the beginning of March, the negotiations are fast running out of time to secure political agreement between the four South American countries of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.

IFA officers around the country have been lobbying their political representatives this weekend against a bad Mercosur trade deal. Following on from a high level lobbying campaign in Dublin, Brussels and Argentina in late 2017, IFA is continuing its strong campaign against a bad Mercosur deal for Irish agriculture and particularly our exposed beef and suckler sector. “Ireland has a vital national interest at play in the EU – Mercosur negotiations. Beef is more important to Ireland than any other EU Member state.”