EU officals are in Urugary this week to reconvene Mercosur trade talks with beef one of the main sticking points. The IFA president Joe Healy has called on the EU to scrap any deal on beef while Brexit remains unsorted.
He said EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker and Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan must deliver on their commitment to put Ireland first in Brexit. He said Commissioner Hogan needed to put his foot down and say enough is enough to Trade Commissioner Malmstrom.
Contempt
“With major uncertainty over Brexit and only contempt being shown by Brazil in their failure to meet EU standards on imports, the time has come for Commissioner Hogan to shout stop on Mercosur.”
He also pointed to the fact negotiations were taking place against the back drop of major political scandals in Brazil and an economic meltdown in Argentina. He said as a result, the negotiations lacked credibility as these were the two big member states the EU were relying on for a deal.
Economics
Economic collapse in Argentina has seen a currency devaluation of 125% in the last year and Healy said this shows how ludicrous it would be for the EU to agree a trade deal with an unstable economy. Brazil and Urugary have also seen devaluations in their currency and the IFA has warned these devaluations could see the EU flooded with cheap substandard beef.
IFA National Livestock Chairman Angus Woods added: "In view of the lack of progress on Brexit and our critical dependence on the UK market for beef exports, the EU cannot agree to increased beef imports from Mercosur."