Mayo councillors urge Government to block Mercosur deal as EU vote hangs in the balance
Mayo councillors have urged the Government to block the EU-Mercosur trade deal as EU leaders meet today amid growing uncertainty over whether the long-running agreement will be put to a vote, or delayed into the new year.
The deal, which would conclude 25 years of negotiations and create the world’s largest free-trade area, has sparked strong opposition amongst farmers, with Mayo representatives warning it will devastate Ireland’s beef and poultry sectors and undermine rural livelihoods.
Independent Ireland councillor Chris Maxwell said the future of Mayo’s farming families was being decided in Europe, rather than on Irish farms.
“Our rural economy and our farming families' viability are resting in the hands of bureaucrats in Brussels,” he said in the December meeting of Mayo County Council.
Cllr Maxwell, who is a sheep and cattle farmer by trade, tabled a motion at the meeting urging all TDs and MEPs to vote against the Mercosur Trade Agreement, warning it posed a serious threat to Irish agriculture.
The EU-Mercosur deal centres on trade but also offers an opportunity for increased political dialogue and cooperation between the EU and South American countries.
If approved, it would allow for 99,000 tonnes of Mercosur beef into the EU at a reduced tariff of 7.5pc, along with a duty-free quota of 180,000 tonnes of poultry, phased in over five years.
Ireland currently exports around 440,000 tonnes of beef annually, worth €2.8b, and Meat Industry Ireland has estimated the agreement could cost the Irish beef sector between €100m and €130m each year.
A final vote was expected this week, but the process has been thrown into doubt after France indicated it is seeking to delay EU approval of the deal, raising the possibility that a decision could now be pushed back until January.
Cllr Maxwell told his colleagues that the agreement “has the potential to decimate the Irish Beef Industry through cheap and inferior imports from South American countries”.
“Our rural economy and our farming families' viability are resting in the hands of bureaucrats in Brussels who don't seem to understand what's going on in our country or how discriminating this deal could be to our farmers,” he said.
“European bureaucrats want to let in meat and poultry and everything else that entails, where there is no traceability, it is full of hormones, angel dust and everything else,
“It is vitally important this deal does not go through in its present form”.
The motion was seconded by Cllr John O’Malley, also a farmer, who urged councillors to contact TDs and MEPs ahead of any vote.
“The hormones they are using have an ill effect on people's health,” he said, adding that Irish farmers face fines and jail sentences if they are found using illegal growth hormones.
“We supply good meat in Ireland, we have beef being sent in into the EU contaminated with hormones that we cannot use here,
“It is time we got serious and don’t let this go through - we have to make sure our MEPs sit up and vote against it,
“It is vitally important to the survival of Irish farmers,” he said.
Fine Gael MEP for the Midlands-North-West constituency Maria Walsh has also called on the Government to “outright reject” the agreement.
Ahead of the potential final vote, MEP Walsh urged An Taoiseach Micheál Martin, An Tánaiste Simon Harris and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Helen McEntee to “show leadership and commit to voting against” the deal at EU Council level.
MEP Walsh, a full member of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, warned the agreement “risks undermining our food security, jeopardises rural livelihoods, and allows products that fail to meet EU standards onto our shelves”.
“This deal is not inevitable – President von der Leyen’s pen has not yet signed the dotted line. Ireland has an opportunity to lead, as France has done, and to stand up for our farmers and rural communities,” she said.
On Tuesday, December 16, MEPs approved a safeguard clause linked to the EU-Mercosur deal to protect Europe’s agricultural sector.
The clause would allow the EU to temporarily suspend tariff preferences on sensitive agricultural imports, such as beef or poultry, from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay if imports are deemed to be harming EU producers.
The safeguards vote is separate to the wider decision by the European Council, and the subsequent ratification by the European Commission, on whether to approve the Mercosur deal itself.
EU leaders met yesterday, Wednesday, December 17, and today, Thursday, December 18, in Brussels, and the European Commission have planned a ratification meeting in Brazil on Saturday, December 20.
However, with France seeking a delay, there is now doubt over whether European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, will be in a position to sign the agreement this weekend.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.