Protective measures needed for EU-Mercosur deal, Polish agri min says
The trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, a South American trade bloc, can only be acceptable when it includes mechanisms protecting European farmers, the Polish agriculture minister has said.
For several years now, the EU has been negotiating a trade agreement with the trade bloc of five South American nations, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, in a bid to expand Europe's access to third markets amid the global dominance of the United States and the growing influence of China.
Czeslaw Siekierski, who on Tuesday chaired a meeting of his European peers in Luxembourg as part of Poland's presidency of the EU Council, told reporters that Poland and France from the very beginning had been expressing a negative view about the planned deal that aimed to liberalise trade between the two blocs.
"If it is to be approved and accepted by farmers, because they are the subject of this agreement, protective mechanisms must be created in order not to destabilise the EU's agricultural market," Siekierski said.
He pledged he would raise the issue at a meeting with his French counterpart, Annie Genevard, in Paris on Wednesday.
Genevard said in Warsaw last week that "an additional protocol" to the agreement is being negotiated to offer better protection for European agricultural products. However, critics say the protocol will not be enough to ensure European farmers are not affected by the liberalisation and the document's only aim is neutralise the resistance from some member states.
The proposed protective mechanisms would cover certain categories of products that are particularly vulnerable to liberalisation, including eggs and sugar.
The European Commission will present the final draft of the agreement to the EU member states in July. To reject the deal, opponents need to build a blocking minority that includes at least four countries representing at least 35 percent of the EU's population.
jd/ jch/ han/