IFA critical of EU Commissioner’s stance in current trade negotiations

FARM groups yesterday criticised the double standards with which the EU Commission treats foods produced inside and outside the EU.

Speaking in Brussels, IFA president John Bryan urged the EU Commission to take full account of equivalence of standards and to protect the CAP in any trade negotiations, including the current Mercosur talks.

John Bryan accused the EU Trade Commissioner Karl De Gucht of failing to adequately defend the interests of the EU in the Mercosur negotiations on the crucial issues of food security, sustainability, climate change, and standards.

In a visit to Paraguay and Uruguay this week, Commissioner De Gucht said a Mercosur trade deal should be comprehensive and ambitious going beyond the WTO obligations.

John Bryan said: “It would be a disaster for European and Irish agriculture. The commissioner is sacrificing agriculture, and particularly the beef and livestock sector, to secure a Mercosur deal at any cost.

“The negative implications for European agriculture from a Mercosur deal are very substantial with losses estimated at tens of billions of euro, while the possible benefits to other EU sectors are not at all evident.”

Mr Bryan welcomed the strong support from the European Parliament, whose agriculture committee has criticised the commission’s “extremely generous” offers in its global trade negotiations, while at the same time failing to achieve equivalent concessions for the EU.

In addition, the Agricultural Committee demanded the EU high standards on environment, animal, plant welfare and health be applied to all imports to ensure fair competition and consumer protection, and a tightening up of border controls and checks on production methods in countries exporting to the EU.

The IFA president said the EU Parliament has set down two very strong over-riding conditions on trade negotiations for the commission, namely the equivalence of standards for all imports and the protection of the CAP.

Meanwhile, Ireland East Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness told those attending a recent Teagasc conference in Dublin Castle: “EU agriculture is heading in many different directions — but central to the policy shift is a recognition that the marketplace does not and will not pay food producers a fair price for their produce, a price that reflects the value of all of the services provided by farmers, including the food products.”

Ms McGuinness said there is a pressing need for an approach to agriculture education that manages to focus on sustainable/competitive production.

“Farmers, and those in the agri-sector, need a much better understanding of ecosystems. It is very difficult to find the expert who has managed to marry both sides of the debate — production and environmental issues.”