The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has planned to step up its campaign against the Mercosur trade deal which came to a political agreement in Uruguay on Friday 6 December.

IFA president Francie Gorman will travel to Brussels over the weekend to meet farm leaders from across Europe on Monday.

“This sell-out deal needs to be ratified by the EU council of member states, the European Parliament and should also have to be ratified by national parliaments.

"The Commission may have sold out European farmers, but there is a distance to travel yet. Essentially, we are back to where we were in 2019 with an EU Commission-agreed deal without a democratic mandate,” Gorman said.

COPA will be co-ordinating the next steps of the campaign to oppose the deal, with a flash action protest in Brussels on Monday morning.

“While the Commission president is talking up the benefits of the deal, she makes no reference to the very damaging consequences for the beef and poultry sectors,” he said.

“Simon Harris as Taoiseach and Micheál Martin as Tánaiste told the IFA national council during the general election campaign that they were opposed to the Mercosur deal. They must carry this commitment forward and oppose this deal tooth and nail,” he said.

The IFA is also in complete opposition to any splitting of the trade and political aspects of a potential Mercosur deal.

The role of national parliaments in relation to trade deal ratification must be respected and honoured by the European Commission, it said.

ICMSA

Reacting to the deal’s political agreement, president of Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) Denis Drennan has said Mercosur makes a complete mockery of the Commission’s own Green Deal.

The ICMSA statement added “that the idea the so-called safeguards will work or be effective is simply fantasy”.

“All these objectives, constantly held up in front of the EU’s own farmers, have been sold out today for the benefit of big business and that’s the undeniable reality,” he said.

Mr Drennan added that the proposed deal will have a major impact on Irish farming and said the EU’s position was “absurd”, in that EU farmers will have much higher production standards than Mercosur countries.

“In her address today, Commission president von der Leyen said that the agreement shows that ‘democracies can rely on each other’.

“I sincerely hope that von der Leyen stands by her own democratic commitments and allows all national parliaments to have their say on the proposal and also that all our MEPs stand by their farmers in opposing this deal,” Drennan said.

The ICMSA called on the Government to immediately oppose the deal.

MEPS

MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú called on the incoming Irish Government, to align themselves with France, Austria, Poland and the Netherlands, to form a block that can oppose the ratification of the Mercosur trade agreement.

She said this should be done until there is satisfactory and legally binding commitments on matters relating to trade, sustainable development, biodiversity and deforestation protections from the Mercosur countries.

"The Mercosur trade agreement is bad for Irish farmers, Irish consumers, South American indigenous populations and their lands and for our climate change goals,” she said.

Ní Mhurchú added that she is opposed to elements of the Mercosur deal which would negatively impact Irish beef farmers by flooding the EU markets with South American beef.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin MEPs Lynn Boylan and Kathleen Funchion have slammed the decision by the Commission to finalise the Mercosur deal and have called on member states to work together and block it.

Funchion said the deal is “rotten” and both farmers and environmentalists in Ireland are united in their opposition to this trade deal.

“Beef and poultry farmers in particular will be hit hard by this deal and would face a real struggle to remain viable.

“It is also deeply unfair that this deal will mean that Irish farmers will have to comply with much more regulation than farmers in the Mercosur area, which this deal will put them in direct competition with.

“The new government must send a clear signal to both people here, as well as the European Commission, that Ireland is opposed to the Mercosur deal,” she added.

The Mercosur trade deal is a betrayal of Irish farmers, Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture Martin Kenny has said.

“Once again, I want to outline our complete and unconditional opposition to Mercosur. Any representative who claims to be a voice for farmers would oppose Mercosur at every hand’s turn.

"All we have seen in this regard from previous Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments is a very quiet and soft opposition, which is not what our farmers want," he said.

ICSA

Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Asssociation (ICSA) president Sean McNamara has described the deal as a disgrace.

“Irish and European beef farmers are being sacrificed on the altar of global trade, with no regard for the devastating impact this will have on our livelihoods, rural communities and the environment.

"The hypocrisy of the European Commission in pushing through this deal while demanding ever-higher environmental standards from EU farmers is staggering,” he said.