The ministers of agriculture of some 15 EU countries said, on Monday 18 July, that the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) should not be reopened.
Marc Fesneau, the French Minister for Agriculture, spoke about this issue at the EU ‘Agriculture’ Council.
The objective of our approach is twofold: to welcome the WTO declaration adopted at the 12th Ministerial Conference (in mid-June) and “to alert the European Commission to the importance of not reopening or renegotiating the current SPS agreement”, argued France. According to the French Minister, this is indeed ‘a major point of vigilance, because this agreement makes it possible to protect European sanitary and phytosanitary standards’.
The recent WTO declaration on SPS measures “allows sustainability to be better taken into account in international trade”, said Mr Fesneau.
France submitted a paper (https://aeur.eu/f/2os ) on these SPS measures on behalf of 12 countries (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain).
At the EU Council, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and Bulgaria clearly supported the requests of this group of countries, as did Denmark.
The Netherlands has said it does not support the country’s paper, partly on the grounds that it believes “reform of the WTO is necessary”.
Under the WTO agreement, all countries must implement measures to ensure the safety of food products for consumers and to prevent the spread of pests or diseases in animals and plants. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)