EU concessions: What Europe gave farmers for Mercosur deal backing
Farmers' main concerns are tariffs and fertilisers – the EU hasn't won over agricultural producers, but it has promised to soften the blow.
The European Union has made a series of concessions to its farmers in order to obtain the necessary support to sign the trade deal with Mercosur. However, no measure has appeased the sector’s outrage over the deal.
The following are some of the concessions the EU has tabled:
Price probe limit
European farmers are worried about the future reduction of tariffs on agriculture products contained in this agreement between the EU and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The European Commission, pressured by France and Italy, announced last September a series of assurances it is willing to grant to its meat, poultry, rice, honey, egg and ethanol sectors, limiting the quota of Latin American products exempt from tariffs and intervening in case the markets becomes destabilised.
According to a commitment agreed on last December between Member States and the European Parliament, the Commission will open an investigation if the price of a Mercosur product is at least eight percent lower than the same goods from the EU, and if the volume of imports increases by more than eight percent.
In case of a serious detriment, the EU could temporarily rise tariffs on the affected products once again.
'Risk of harm'
The European Executive Branch further undertook to start an investigation upon request by an EU State if there is a sufficient risk of harm.
Among the most controversial matters, European farmers report the presence in imports of pesticides banned in the EU which, in their opinion, amounts to “unfair competition.”
Given this criticism, the European Commission undertook to legislate on pesticide waste and announced on Wednesday the outright prohibition of three substances: thiophanate-methyl, carbendazim and benomyl, especially in citrus fruits, mangos and papayas.
This decision was made in response to a prohibition decreed by the French government, which suspended this week the imports into its territory of products treated with a total five fungicides or herbicides, including those three substances.
Euro agro standards
The EU also promised to reinforce its controls to make sure that agricultural imports observe European regulations.
In an effort to move forward with the agreement with Mercosur, Brussels also gave in in another matter: the budget of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), from 2028 to 2034.
On Tuesday, the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed additional funds for farmers to the tune of some 45 billion euros (around US$53 billion) starting in 2028, when they were only supposed to be available further on, during a medium-term review of the CAP.
Fertiliser suspensions
Another matter further outraging the farming sector is the cost of fertilisers.
Cereal producers especially are asking to withdraw fertilisers from the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which seeks to level competition between EU producers and third party countries, which will come into effect this year.
The Commission opened up on Wednesday a path to temporarily suspend that mechanism for fertilisers.
In the meantime, the Commission announced a reduction of certain tariffs on urea and ammonia, in order to limit the price of nitrogenous fertilisers.
– TIMES/AFP