Brussels, 12/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Copa and Cogeca, which represent European farmers and agri-cooperatives, expressed their opposition on Wednesday 11 May to the EU's offer on agriculture in free-trade talks with Mercosur, warning it will open up the EU's markets to imports “without getting much in return” (see EUROPE 11549).
Despite the removal of beef and ethanol from the list of sensitive products subject to tariff quotas in the EU's revised offer, Copa-Cogeca says it is still not good enough. The organisations are calling for the removal of all sensitive products, a source has revealed, including, inter alia, poultry and pig meat.
Copa-Cogeca Secretary General Pekka Pesonen acknowledged that some changes had been made to the EU's initial offer “but it's not enough for us”. He is particularly disappointed that the offer still includes sensitive agriculture products which “could destroy our agriculture sector” before any clarification was done in terms of “removing red tape and other unnecessary non-tariff barriers to trade which stop our exports from entering these countries”. He is also unhappy that the Commission failed to carry out the impact assessment it promised.
Studies show that the EU agri-food sector could lose another €7 billion from a free-trade deal with the Mercosur countries. Mercosur is already a major exporter of agricultural products to the EU: 86% of European beef imports and 70% of poultry meat imports come from the South American bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)