The ICMSA is seeking clarity on the EU-Mercosur free trade deal. \ Philip Doyle
The president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has slated a meeting between farm organisations and European Commission officials in Dublin on the topic of the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement as nothing more than a “waste of time”.
Denis Drennan claimed that Wednesday’s meeting had not been allocated sufficient time to deal with questions from the ICMSA and the other farm organisations present, leaving many areas of concern unaddressed.
Areas of the EU-Mercosur agreement that the ICMSA is seeking clarity on include the guarantees around animals not receiving growth hormones, the sanctions that will apply if they are found in imports and EU monitoring of whether conditions in the deal are upheld in Mercosur countries.
Drennan stated that farming will be the sector left most affected by the agreement coming into play.
'Sufficient time'
“That being the case, we would have thought that the very least we are entitled to is sufficient time to ask and have answered the serious questions that the importance of the meeting absolutely merited,” he said.
“We didn’t get that time. We didn’t get anywhere close to that. What we got was a hurried and unsatisfactory presentation that was over with without any opportunity to ask even the most basic questions that Irish farmers demand are answered.”
The Government must now push the Commission to get clarification on the deal, the farm leader stated.
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The president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has slated a meeting between farm organisations and European Commission officials in Dublin on the topic of the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement as nothing more than a “waste of time”.
Denis Drennan claimed that Wednesday’s meeting had not been allocated sufficient time to deal with questions from the ICMSA and the other farm organisations present, leaving many areas of concern unaddressed.
Areas of the EU-Mercosur agreement that the ICMSA is seeking clarity on include the guarantees around animals not receiving growth hormones, the sanctions that will apply if they are found in imports and EU monitoring of whether conditions in the deal are upheld in Mercosur countries.
Drennan stated that farming will be the sector left most affected by the agreement coming into play.
'Sufficient time'
“That being the case, we would have thought that the very least we are entitled to is sufficient time to ask and have answered the serious questions that the importance of the meeting absolutely merited,” he said.
“We didn’t get that time. We didn’t get anywhere close to that. What we got was a hurried and unsatisfactory presentation that was over with without any opportunity to ask even the most basic questions that Irish farmers demand are answered.”
The Government must now push the Commission to get clarification on the deal, the farm leader stated.
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