Alarmed at the large-scale health scandal in the meat sector in Brazil, French MEPs from the S&D Group in the European Parliament called, in a written question put down on Thursday 23 March, for guarantees from the European Commission on practical measures to protect European consumers, suspension of imports of beef products from Brazil and removal of beef from the EU-Mercosur free-trade talks.
As the second round of free-trade talks continues between the EU and Mercosur in Buenos Aires this week (see EUROPE 11746), “we call on the Commission to take firm measures to ensure the safety of European consumers, including suspension of beef imports from Brazil”, said Eric Andrieu in a press release published on Thursday.
“More generally, we demand real protection for sensitive sectors, particularly the beef sector, in EU-Mercosur trade negotiations. To this end, we advocate the complete, binding and irrevocable removal of beef from the scope of the negotiations”, Andrieu added.
Furthermore, the French S&D MEPs wonder whether it might not be better quite simply to suspend discussions until full light can be shone on this issue.
The large-scale scandal broke in Brazil on 17 March. An extensive network fraudulently marketing tainted beef and involving a number of health inspectors has been dismantled. The scandal has revealed fraud and numerous shortcomings in checks and inspection of beef products (see EUROPE 11751). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)