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Any EU trade deal with Mercosur will have hugely negative effects for Irish agriculture, according to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Association (ICSA).
In a statement, ICSA beef chair Edmond Phelan expressed dismay at a potential offer of a tariff rate quota for 85,000t of beef in the Mercosur trade deal.
“ICSA is extremely concerned at this. If such an offer is tabled, it would have a very severe impact on European beef markets and would hit Irish beef exports particularly hard.”
“The offer is even more generous than the 78,000t that was on the table earlier this year, but which had to be withdrawn. It is hard to comprehend that the EU Commission is already forgetting the Brazilian beef scandal of earlier this year and appears willing to make beef the sacrifice for other sectors,” Phelan said.
The comments come in reaction to calls from French MEP Michel Dantin who has demanded that the commission clarify if rumours about such an offer are true.
The ICSA called on EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan to oppose the deal, as well as domestic opposition from Leo Varadkar and Michael Creed.
Finalised deal by December
In July, it was announced that any Mercosur deal was expected to be finalised by the end of 2017.
At the same time, Phil Hogan said that any trade deal with the Mercosur bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) must meet the European Union mandate in relation to agriculture.
It has generated heavy criticism from various farming organisations over that period.
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