Listen: 'There will be beef in Mercosur trade agreement' – Hogan

“There will be beef in a trade agreement but it will be regarded as a sensitive product,” Commissioner Hogan told the Irish Farmers Journal. “We will ensure and fight for the lowest possible volumes and we’ll also have to negotiate the type of cuts.”

Any beef coming into the EU will also have to meet European standards, the commissioner said – “otherwise there will be no deal”.

While the decade-long negotiations between the EU and the Mercosur bloc previously included plans to allow 78,000t of duty-free South American beef into the EU, Commissioner Hogan said this was no longer acceptable. “We have to look at that volume and the impact Brexit will have at a time when European beef consumption is going down,” he said.

Listen to an interview with Phil Hogan in our podcast below:

Commissioner Hogan said he and individual member states would make representations to Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström in the coming weeks, with talks expected to progress in October to achieve a general political agreement with Mercosur next January.

Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed, farming organisations and beef processors have all spoken out against the inclusion of beef in Mercosur trade negotiations at the Ploughing.

IFA livestock chair Angus Woods said Mercosur already had very favourable access to the European market for up to 246,000t of equivalent carcase beef every year, adding: “There is no room in the EU beef sector for additional imports or concessions to Mercosur.”

Mexico deal

Commissioner Hogan also said he hoped the EU would conclude a separate trade agreement with Mexico, a major importer of milk powders, by the end of this year.

On the future CAP, he said the Commission still hoped to have a budget and agricultural policy in place at the same time to start on 1 January 2020. While he acknowledged that agriculture would have to take its share of the €12bn annual gap in the EU’s budget after Brexit, he added that new European priorities such as security and migration should be financed with fresh funding rather than compete with agriculture.

Minister Creed expressed doubt about the 2020 deadline on Wednesday, hinting at a possible extension of the current CAP.

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