Five MEPs from four countries where livestock farming is of major importance (France, Ireland, Italy and Spain) sounded the alarm in Brussels on Tuesday 18 October on the consequences for the beef sector in Europe of the EU’s signing the comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA) with Canada (see other article and EUROPE 11648).
Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spain), Mairead McGuinness (EPP, Ireland), Eric Andrieu (S&D, France), Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy) and Yannick Jadot (Greens/EFA, France), along with representatives of the European beef meat sector organised an awareness-raising exercise in the European Parliament.
Andrieu, whose initiative the event was, stressed that Parliament shared the concerns of a beef sector “that today is at the end of its tether. The problem is not simply CETA. It’s in the accumulation of the concessions made in current and forthcoming negotiations (TTIP, Mercosur, etc.) that the problem lies. We have been waiting for months for the study promised by Commissioner Phil Hogan on the build-up of agricultural concessions and the impact this has had on the sector”.
He pointed out that MEPs were not against commercial trade, on condition that it is based on the principles of reciprocity and balance, and met health, social and environmental standards. “One cannot deny that, in terms of health, the environment, traceability and animal welfare, standards are not the same on the two sides of the Atlantic”, Andrieu said.
The five MEPs have called for the Commission to respond better to the concerns of their fellow citizens and for it to give greater protection to EU agricultural products.
Referring to the Belgian impasse on CETA, Andrieu said that this “must give us cause for reflection. We can and must do better. There is scope for progress!” (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)