“I can’t accept the idea that we started the negotiations without thinking about farmers. That was the hardest part to negotiate. We negotiated extremely hard. We have been very firm”, said the European Commissioner for Trade, Maroš Šefčovič, who on Thursday 30 January staunchly defended the EU/Mercosur trade agreement before the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture (see EUROPE 13559/4).
He added, in the face of criticism from some MEPs, that the Commission always negotiated these free trade agreements “with farmers at the top of its priorities”.
He also rejected the idea “that we have sacrificed farmers on the altar of industrial exports. This is not true!”.
He insisted to Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italian) on the “geopolitical” need to find new access to the market and told Dario Nardella (S&D, Italian) that this agreement, “the most important ever concluded”, was four times bigger than the agreement with Japan. “It’s very important for our economy and I think it’s very important for our farmers”, he said.
Safeguard measures. Maroš Šefčovič repeated that very low tariff quotas are planned for sensitive products, as well as rigorous SPS controls and a “very ambitious” chapter on trade and sustainable development.
Several MEPs have called for guarantees on the ban on hormone-treated beef. ‘For us, SPS standards are absolutely non-negotiable. Hormone-treated beef simply won’t make it onto the European market”, promised the Commissioner for Trade. And he added: “When we detect a potential risk of hormone-treated beef being introduced into Europe, we simply stop authorising these facilities, these slaughterhouses, to export this meat to the European Union”. He promised concerned MEPs that the EU would further improve the quality of controls.
Twenty-seven audits have been carried out by the Commission in these countries, said the Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, who was present alongside Maroš Šefčovič.
Another argument put forward by the Commissioner for Trade is that the Commission is currently preparing the most far-reaching customs reform since the creation of the Customs Union, with a new European customs agency and a new customs centre, where all officials will have access to a single software package. “We’ll have much better information, much better risk assessment and we’ll be able to carry out more detailed checks not just on agri-food products, but on all products entering the European Union”.
With regard to beef (the EU will allow 99,000 tonnes of beef to enter its market over five years, subject to a duty of 7.5%), Commissioner Christophe Hansen replied to Norbert Lins (EPP, German) that the current quota of Hilton beef (10,000 tonnes) coming on top will be duty-free. The EU already imports 200,000 tonnes of beef from these countries and it is not certain that these 99,000 tonnes will be added to these volumes, said Mr Hansen, replying to Luke Flanagan (The Left, Irish).
On the subject of wines, the Commissioner for Trade referred to current export figures (between €221 and €388 million per year), with customs duties of up to 35%, “and these duties will disappear”, he pointed out. The elimination of duties will also apply to olive oil and many other products for which Europe is traditionally very strong.
Italy is one of the main producers of protected geographical indications in the EU. “All your famous cheeses, wines and products can no longer be imitated. They will be protected and sold at a higher price”, said Maroš Šefčovič.
Revision clause. The Commissioners recalled the introduction in the agreement of a revision clause which provides that after three years of application of this agreement, market access and compliance with the chapter on trade and sustainable development will be re-examined. “This will give us another opportunity to see how the agreement is working, if there are any discrepancies, anomalies or problems. We will correct everything that goes wrong”, assured Mr Šefčovič.
He also praised the merits of the agreement in terms of the new possibilities for diversifying the supply of essential raw materials, thereby contributing to the competitiveness of the European economy. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)