The influential European Parliament committee on international trade has voted in favour of strengthening two areas of the safeguards proposed for the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement.

The safeguards form a crucial element of the Commission’s bid to quash opposition to the deal from MEPs and member states.

All MEPs will have the chance to vote on the safeguard clauses next Tuesday, when the Parliament will either decide to get the ball rolling on the agreement as a whole, or kick it to touch by reopening the safeguards to further amendments.

ADVERTISEMENT

The first area where change was backed by the committee was to put the onus on the European Commission to pay closer heed to the movement of markets impacted by the deal, if it is ratified.

These reports would have to be released every three months after the committee’s amendments, instead of every six months as was the case under the original proposals.

The reports would have to detail data for specific products, outline the findings of checks carried out at border posts and the impact of the deal on specific member states, rather than just the EU market as a whole.

The other significant amendment backed by the committee would allow for Commission investigations into the impact of Mercosur product when there is evidence of sustained price reductions for a product category.

These investigations would also be triggered automatically if prices were to fall 5% for a given product and not the 10% price threshold that had been initially sought in the proposals.

Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Cowen, despite being against the deal, has welcomed the safeguards as an important backstop in the event that it does pass.

“I have been clear from the start that I would vote against the Mercosur agreement if it came before parliament tomorrow,” Cowen said.

“But if there remains a real risk of it passing by qualified majority voting, then my responsibility is to secure the strongest possible compensatory package for Irish farmers.”