Brazil has told the European Union not to fear Mercosur imports, dismissing claims its products will “poison” the bloc’s markets.
“That we are going to poison the EU with our products of ‘no quality’ … does not make any sense,” said Pedro Miguel da Costa e Silva, Ambassador of Brazil to the EU, speaking at the European Commission in Brussels this morning.
Exactly one year after the EU and Mercosur, the South American trade bloc, struck a political agreement, EC President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to travel to South America in December to formalise the deal.
Mercosur’s full members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Venezuela is a full member but has been suspended since 1 December 2016.
But whether von der Leyen’s trip will happen remains uncertain. EU member states and MEPs have yet to agree on ratification.
Silva said the biggest misconception about the deal, in his opinion, is what Europeans think of “the quality” of Brazilian products.
EU countries have expressed concerns about the Mercosur deal. France has called for stronger import safeguards to protect local farmers, insisting that agricultural standards must be upheld.
Ireland has voiced criticism too. The Sinn Féin’ party, for instance, wrote that “there is no point in incentivising young farmers to take over the farm on the one hand and pulling the rug out from under them on the other by supporting the Mercosur trade deal”.
“Irish farmers cannot be sacrificed for German cars to be sold,” the party said.
Germany, alongside Spain, remains broadly supportive, seeing economic opportunities for exporters.
Industry groups have also voiced concerns.
Copa-Cageca, the largest representation of farmers to the EU, together with associations representing sugar, poultry, beef, ethanol and maize producers, sent a press release to Brussels Signal on November 12. In it, they warned that the EU-Mercosur Agreement risks enabling duty-free imports produced under lower environmental, labour, and animal welfare standards than those in the EU.
Traceability of beef, chemical use in poultry and gaps in labour protections were highlighted as major issues.
Copa-Cageca also noted that the agreement’s safeguard thresholds are largely symbolic and unlikely to provide real protection to European farmers, while sustainability, labour and deforestation protections are not fully enforceable.
The second-biggest misconception, Silva said, is “that there will be a flood of goods coming to the EU …We made big concessions for sensitive products like wine, berries and now it’s win-win.”
According to data on the EC website, the agreement includes gradual tariff reductions for sensitive products such as wine, berries, beef and poultry.
The EC says the deal sets specific quotas and phased-in tariff reductions for such sensitive products.
Beef imports are capped at 99,000 tonnes annually, with tariffs gradually reduced to 7.5 per cent, while poultry has a 180,000-tonne quota phased in over five years.
Sugar from raw cane can hit 180,000 tonnes duty-free and industrial ethanol enjoys a quota of 450,000 tonnes, with a further 200,000 tonnes for other uses under reduced tariffs.
These provisions are designed to open the market while still protecting European producers in the most sensitive sectors.
“Look at the numbers, look at the facts, then you can make a judgement,” Silva said.
MEPs also raised concerns about the deal. In a document signed by 145 MEPs, they tried to pause the process, saying that separating the political and trade elements of the agreement avoided the usual approval process by national parliaments.
They see this as “sidestepping” the role of member states parliaments, they said.
The European Parliament, though, said the request could not proceed because the Council, which represents EU governments, has not yet formally asked the EP to give its consent to ratify the deal.
In addition, the EP’s International Trade Committee asked for a study on so-called “mirror clauses” that are meant to make sure imported products meet EU standards.
The study, released yesterday by the EP, found these clauses could, in theory, enforce rules on Mercosur imports but in practice they are tricky to apply and need close co-operation with trade partners.
Existing EU tools already give ways to monitor and control imports, it said.
