Brussels, 23/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The French authorities are opposed to the inclusion of proposed quotas for sensitive products in the European offer “at this stage of the negotiations with Mercosur” (see EUROPE 11512).
This position, expressed at the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) meeting on Monday 21 March is supported by the Austrian, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Lithuanian, Luxembourg, Polish and Romanian delegations.
In a note on the proposal for an exchange of offers within the framework of the negotiation of a free-trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, France says that, at the meeting of the Trade Policy Committee (Deputies) on 11 March 2016, the Commission announced its intention to proceed with a new exchange of offers with Mercosur in April 2016. With regard to the tariff offer, the Commission stated that it was planning to submit an offer which would propose quotas for sensitive agricultural products, and that those quotas would be higher than in the EU offer submitted in September 2004.
“Such an offer by the European Union would widen the gap between the two parties' proposals, bearing in mind that Mercosur is for its part planning to offer to liberalise 87% of bilateral trade, without specifying the content of its offer”, states the French note. The gap between the offers was already substantial even at the time the May 2004 offers were exchanged (EU offer: 91% of trade liberalised and only 0.5% excluded from liberalisation; Mercosur offer: 87 % of trade liberalised and 12% excluded), and it “risks becoming even wider”, according to France, which highlights the importance of ensuring that the two parties' offers are as evenly balanced as possible.
Mercosur's primary interest during the negotiation of a free trade agreement with the EU is access to the European agricultural market. The Mercosur countries are leaders in the global agriculture markets and their agrifood industries are particularly competitive in a large number of sectors. The handling of sensitive agricultural products also requires careful calibration, France argues. It believes that this work cannot be done without first carrying out an assessment of the cumulative impact of the concessions granted by the EU in the bilateral agreements that have been concluded or are under negotiation, an analysis that Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan and his services have begun, as he reported at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 15 February 2016.
This proposal for an exchange of offers is being made in the context of a serious agricultural crisis in Europe. The measures taken by the EU have so far not made it possible to redress the situation, which remains very serious for many agricultural industries. “In this context, a European offer containing proposed quotas for sensitive products would be likely to be perceived as a provocation by the European agricultural sector and could have a ripple effect on all ongoing trade negotiations, especially the negotiations with the United States”.
At the CSA meeting on Monday 21 March, France was supported by a majority of member states which insisted on a proper impact assessment. Other, liberal, countries supported the Commission in its plans or held a more nuanced view (for example, the EU offer should not be less than the previous EU offer from 2004 which already contained tariff-rate quotas for sensitive products). The Commission replied that its offer would contain tariff-rate quotas but that it will give member states sufficient time to examine it. According to the Commission, the offer was not yet finalised and there was no date scheduled for the exchange of offers. However, the wish was to exchange offers by summer. The Commission said that the trade policy committee (TPC) was the place where member states' final advice was expected and it encouraged delegations to talk to their TPC colleagues to ensure coherent national positions. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)