EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström was in the US last week declaring that there could still be a TTIP deal between the EU and US before the end of the year.

However, it is developments with the Mercosur talks that will cause most concern to Irish farmers.

EU foreign affairs and security high representative Federica Mogherini is reported to have said, on her visit to Argentina last week, that the EU and Mercosur would exchange trade proposals next month.

While Uruguay currently holds the Mercosur presidency, it has been the election of Mauricio Macri as president of Argentina that has given the discussions a new push at the South American end.

Proposals had been expected before the end of 2015, then again by the end of January. There are reports that the delay was due to the Mercosur offer being insufficient.

France and Ireland lead opposition

There is support for a deal among some EU members. However, France and Ireland are leading the opposition in highlighting the threat to agriculture, and beef in particular.

Mercosur president Tabaré Vazquez is expected to visit Brussels soon, following a recent meeting with French president François Hollande, and the Argentinian president is expected to visit Brussels later in the year.

There is a sense of momentum building, and it leaves the IFA and Meat Industry Ireland on the same page in opposing a Merocsur deal.

IFA national livestock committee chair Henry Burns said it makes no sense whatsoever for the EU to recommence discussions with Mercosur, particularly in the context of the ongoing discussion on TTIP with the US and the climate change negotiations.

He said any Mercosur trade deal would be extremely damaging for Irish and European agriculture, and especially our important beef trade.

Burns said EU analysis shows a Mercosur deal would inflict losses of €7.8bn on the agriculture sector and he said the losses at farm level would be much higher, particularly for beef farmers.

Speaking on behalf of MII, Cormac Healy said: “MII has consistently warned that a trade deal with Mercosur will be very damaging to the Irish meat sector, not only for beef but also for pigmeat and poultry.

“No deal is better than a bad deal and MII strongly opposes any giveaway by the EU in renewed negotiations with Mercosur,” he stressed.