MEPs largely approved, by 457 votes in favour, 140 against and 71 abstentions, a treaty allocating to the United States more than three-quarters of an existing import quota for high-quality beef, on Thursday 28 November in Strasbourg.
It is above all, a diplomatic victory for Washington, which, at 18,500 tonnes, obtains 35,000 tonnes within a pre-existing duty-free tariff quota of 45,000 tonnes of hormone-free beef (see EUROPE 12310/8, 12296/24, 12275/21, 11993/4). On the European side, we want to highlight European reliability and respect for the word given to the transatlantic partner.
"This agreement is part of our efforts to de-escalate trade tensions between the EU and the US and solve a long-standing dispute between us", Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland), shadow rapporteur, told EUROPE following the vote. "Today’s vote sends positive signals that the EU is implementing the July 2018 statement of President Trump and President Juncker, and shows that the EU is a reliable partner", she said.
"We are a partner willing to compromise and talk. Now it is up to the United States to show that they are too", said Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany), author of the resolution voted with the agreement.
Resolution of an old conflict
Some MEPs, such as Eric Andrieu (S&D, France), were more sceptical, seeing on this subject a sign of the Commission's inconsistency, which had "undertaken not to conclude any trade negotiations with the United States on the agricultural aspect".
However, this agreement does not fall within the framework of the bilateral negotiating mandates granted to the EU (see EUROPE 12175/1). The institution had firmly committed itself to excluding agricultural subjects from these discussions (see EUROPE 12234/19).
This is the resolution of a 10-year-old dispute within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that arose following the EU's refusal to allow imports of US beef containing hormones.
An interim solution to this dispute provided for the opening of this European quota which, under WTO rules, had also been made available to non-US suppliers. This increase granted to the United States is therefore primarily at the expense of countries that previously shared about 60% of this quota, namely Uruguay, Argentina and Australia.
The implementation provides for a phasing over 7 years.
Ire of some MEPs
However, for some, this agreement comes at a very bad time. While the agricultural sectors, mainly in Spain, France, Ireland and Italy, claim to be suffering the full brunt of the sanctions applied by the United States in the Airbus dispute, this concession made by the EU to the Trump administration seems particularly incongruous for some left-wing MEPs.
During the plenary, several of them protested against these concessions, while at the same time, the assembly sounded the alarm about the impact of the countermeasures imposed by the United States in the Airbus dispute at the WTO.
"While Trump taxes our wines and cheese and does a lot of damage to our economy, European leaders are increasing import quotas for American beef. That is absolute nonsense!", Mr Andrieu said in indignation.
This was also underlined by several participants, on Tuesday 26 November in Strasbourg (see EUROPE 12378/4), such as Manuel Bompard (GUE/NGL, France), who called on the assembly to refuse to give its consent to this agreement "until a negotiated solution has been found with the United States".
What about the other countries?
Others, particularly among the Greens, were also concerned that the three countries covered by this agreement with the United States were recovering, through other free trade agreements, such as the one between the EU and Mercosur, the concessions lost to Washington. Concessions in exchange for which they received no compensation, the Commission said. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)