The European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström is out of her depth in the Mercosur negotiations, according to IFA president Joe Healy.

He said that Malmström is extremely naïve to believe that the Brazilians are going to conform to the rules in any Mercosur trade agreement with the EU, especially with regard to meeting EU standards on beef or other meat imports.

“The Brazilians have thrown away the rule book, the latest being the major meat scandal and fraud ‘‘weak flesh’’ from this time last year, which is still running at the very highest administration and political levels in Brazil,” he said.

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