The Chair of Copa-Cogeca’s Working Party on beef, Jean-Pierre Fleury, said on Thursday 15 December that we must “put an end to this frenzy of free trade agreements between the EU and third countries, which is destroying European livestock farming”.
Jean-Pierre Fleury told EUROPE that the European Commission, “by badmouthing the beef sector, will end up destroying European livestock farming”.
He expressed his alarm at the increasing volumes of beef being imported into the EU as a result of the EU’s trade policy.
The market access component of the 1994 Marrakech Agreement provided for a minimum market access for imported products relative to domestic consumption of between 3 and 5% of EU consumption.
The calculations suggest the amount of meat imported by Europe is 240 to 250,000 tonnes under quota, and the lower the tariffs, the more imports increase. This over-quota volume would represent between 50 and 60,000 tonnes. The 4% allowed in relation to European consumption represents 240,000 tonnes (300,000 t if using 5%).
However, if the new or forthcoming agreements are taken into account (Chile: 2,000 tonnes, Mexico: 20,000 t, Mercosur: 99,000 t) which will have an impact over the next 10 years, the 4% and even the 5% limit will be largely exceeded, with 350,000 tonnes and a consumption of 6 million t in 2032.
“The Commission knows this, but isn’t saying it. We are outside the Marrakech agreements and beyond the commitments made not to import more than 3 to 5% of European consumption”, insisted Mr Fleury.
He would not want “the European Parliament and the heads of State to be able to say ‘we didn’t know’”.
Moreover, by favouring imports, the Commission is “destroying 1 million hectares of grassland by bringing 300,000 tonnes of meat into the EU”.
Sleight of hand. Mr Fleury denounced the fact that the Commission was preparing to do a “sleight of hand” with the ratification of the agreement with Chile (see EUROPE 13081/19). It is expected to propose a ‘temporary’ non-mixed agreement, which would be ratified at EU level only, and “this agreement would remain in place even if the overall framework agreement, which is subject to ratification by Member States, were rejected. This would allow the Commission to lull the heads of State to sleep, so that they could not, despite possible opposition, prevent the EU ratifying the text. We are no longer in a democracy”.
Finally, according to Mr Fleury, ‘mirror clauses’ do not apply to any trade agreement, there is no ban on growth-promoting antibiotics, and deforestation controls are only “a show of good conscience. It’s all smoke and mirrors!” (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)