What agricultural volumes are at stake?
The agricultural component of the proposed EU-Mercosur free trade agreement has been in force since 2019. The European Commission speaks of “small volumes” by comparing the planned quotas to what the EU produces annually. The Mercosur products for which customs duties will be reduced or even eliminated will be a maximum of 99,000 tonnes for beef, or 1.6% of EU production. For pigmeat, it will be 25,000 tonnes (0.1% of EU production), for poultry 180,000 tonnes (1.4%), sugar 190,000 tonnes (1.2%).
Brussels assures that the agreement represents opportunities for European products currently held back in Latin America: wine (currently taxed up to 27%) or cheeses, which can benefit from “the rise of a middle class” .
Exposed sectors
Chicken producers fear that Brazilians will concentrate on the most profitable cuts, the fillets.
For the sugar sector, already shaken up by the facilities granted to Ukraine, the 190,000 tonnes represent only 1.2% of European production, but half of French exports to other EU countries, which represent the vast majority of the country's total exports. This will “only destabilize this market”, particularly for France, explains Alain Carré, farmer and president of the inter-profession (AIBS).
The ethanol, honey and pork sectors are also at risk, underlines Stefan Embecque, economist at the Inrae research institute, who mentions in particular the risk of a drop in prices paid to European farmers. “Production costs differ and the problem is that health and environmental standards are not the same. »
What standards?
The Commission assures us: “All Mercosur products must comply with strict EU food safety standards. » Opponents of the agreement demand “mirror clauses”: that the rules imposed on European farmers in social, environmental or animal welfare matters also apply to Mercosur producers in order to avoid distortions of competition . It is “sold as a new generation agreement taking into account environmental and climatic aspects but the commitments are weak: there is no conditionality”, notes Stefan Embecque.
What controls?
“In theory, meat treated for example with antibiotics and growth hormones cannot enter, but in practice traceability is imperfect,” explains Stefan Embecque. “There are slaughterhouse audits organized with the Commission, but we do not easily monitor the livestock before this stage. Tracing from birth to slaughter in Mercosur only exists in Uruguay. »
And in fact, an EU audit has just revealed flaws in the controls of beef in Brazil, incapable of guaranteeing the absence of the hormone estradiol, banned in Europe. Until the procedures are reviewed, Brazil has suspended these exports.
France
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