European allies agree high-end EU beef cuts must be protected

EUROPEAN allies share the Irish view that the EU’s market for high end beef cuts must be protected in any meat deal the European Commission strikes with South American countries as part of the Mercosur talks.

IFA European director, Michael Treacy, believes that Brazil and Argentina will be given increased access to EU beef markets as part of a multi-tiered deal. Following a series of meetings with EU Agriculture Commissioner, Dacian Ciolos, Mr Treacy and IFA president, John Bryan, have concluded that some degree of compromise on South American beef imports into the EU now seems inevitable.

However, Treacy and Bryan are both optimistic that their intensive lobbying with central European MEPs in Brussels should limit that compromise to the lower end cuts of beef.