On Monday 21 February in Brussels, EU Agriculture Ministers stressed the need to strengthen the coherence between the European Green Deal, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and trade policy, but with different sensitivities, especially on ‘mirror clauses’ and the notion of reciprocity in trade (see EUROPE 12891/6).
“We almost all agree on the need to strengthen the coherence between the European Green Deal, the CAP and the EU’s trade policy”, said the current president of the Agriculture Council, French minister Julien Denormandie.
He also pointed out that “European farmers do not understand that transitions are rapid here without the products that come to Europe being subject to the same production standards”.
He also noted the support among ministers for mirror clauses on growth-promoting antibiotics. Many ministers also stressed the need to respect the framework set by the World Trade Organization (WTO), “but that does not mean that we should not act”, the French minister insisted.
Julien Denormandie also felt that further progress should be made on Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) with a view to a revising them.
Several ministers (including Italy, Hungary and Austria) raised the issue of origin labelling agricultural products.
Spain, like France, defended the application of the principle of reciprocity with regard to imports. Spain called for a revision of MRLs and the application of mirror clauses for imported products.
Italy also felt that imports of agricultural products into the EU that do not meet EU standards should be avoided.
Romania is also among the countries that want imported products to meet EU standards and has asked for the fight against unfair trade practices to be stepped up.
Hungary advocated the application of the same standards as in the EU to imports and the application of reciprocity in trade agreements.
Mirror measures were also supported by Austria.
“The Green Deal should enable us to set ambitious standards with our trading partners. We have to be an example to the rest of the world”, said German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir. He stressed the need to avoid negative effects on third countries. “Mirror clauses should be used wherever possible. We have to be careful with these mirror clauses”, warned the German minister, referring to the respect of WTO rules.
Not creating new barriers to trade. The so-called ‘liberal’ countries have been more cautious. “We must not create new barriers to trade”, warned the Danish and Swedish ministers.
Denmark argued for a balanced approach that respects WTO rules. It must be taken into account that third countries may have production methods that differ from ours, Denmark also noted.
Mirroring measures should not be used everywhere, according to the Danish minister, who was also rather sceptical about origin labelling agricultural products.
Import requirements must be examined on a case-by-case basis to check compatibility with WTO rules, Sweden said. The fight against antibiotic resistance was highlighted by Sweden and Denmark in particular. The Netherlands also said that the consequences for trade of implementing import requirements for agricultural products from third countries should be assessed.
Commission report in June. The European Commission is due to present a report in June “containing an assessment of the appropriateness and legal feasibility of applying EU health and environmental standards to imported agricultural and agri-food products”, confirmed Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski. “It is of course important to ensure that this is done in full compliance with WTO rules”, he said. He acknowledged that there are cases where it may be justified to apply our production standards to imports, “either for ethical reasons - I’m thinking of cages - or to protect global sustainability concerns, as we have done with our recent proposals on deforestation and on a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism”, he said. However, the objective of these measures cannot be based on economic considerations, Mr Wojciechowski warned.
In addition, EU ministers adopted conclusions on the Codex Alimentarius, calling for sustainability considerations to be given greater prominence in setting food safety standards for international trade (https://aeur.eu/f/ez ). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)