The agreement sealed by the European Union and the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay) has become the spark that once again makes the unrest of the countryside evident. A pact that the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has sold as “a victory for Europe” and that both the European Parliament and the Member States now have to support. For the agrarian organizations there is little victory and they have already called for new mobilizations, which this Monday return to Madrid.
The agreement involves creating the largest free trade area in the world, because it includes more than 700 million people from 31 countries, the majority from the European Union. One of the bases is to blur the tariff policy, because it entails eliminating – albeit gradually – 91% of tariffs on EU exports to Mercosur countries and practically the same percentage when goods travel in the opposite direction.
This will benefit European companies, which could save nearly 4 billion euros, but it may also mean that farmers and ranchers will see significantly cheaper products entering the EU. For this reason, quotas are going to be set. For example, a limit of 99,000 additional annual tons is set for beef, which is added to the 200,000 that are already imported each year from the Mercosur States. Hence, the Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, assured last week that this agreement only represents “one steak per person per year”, in reference to these additional meat products.
From the outset, the Spanish Executive has supported the pact, while other countries, such as France, reject it due to the persistent unrest in the countryside in recent months. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has defended it because it will strengthen the Spanish economy. “Trade opening with our Latin American brother countries will make us – all of us – more prosperous and stronger,” he assured through the X social network.
Agrarian organizations, on the other hand, are not so optimistic and, since the pact became known, they have made their opposition clear. “It makes no sense to tolerate an agreement that puts a sector as strategic as agriculture and livestock in check,” says the Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers (UPA). “We consider that it can especially harm family farms and represent a brake on the necessary and complex generational change,” criticizes this organization.
“We cannot continue using agriculture as a bargaining chip in trade agreements,” says its Secretary of International Relations, José Manuel Roche. “They do not work with the same rules as European farmers and ranchers” and gives as an example the use of “phytosanitary products prohibited” in the EU, as well as “fertilizers or antibiotics.” “We are putting food security at risk.” In addition, UPA points out the differences in labor legislation and animal welfare.
“When it seemed that the new direction of the European Union was in defense of agriculture and livestock, we found this agreement,” says the general secretary of the Coordinator of Farmers and Livestock Organizations (COAG). “It is outrageous, because the Spanish Government is one of the promoters and the Ministry of Agriculture uses us, again, as a bargaining chip for other activities, such as the sale of cars.”
This agricultural organization points out that it will not only have an impact on beef production, but also on pork, honey, citrus fruits, sugar, corn and rice. Instead, it can boost exports of olive oil and wine. “We find it outrageous in a country that is a powerhouse in agriculture and livestock. We are not Germany, where the potential is cars. “The political representatives leave us at the feet of the horses again,” adds Padilla.
The protests are back
COAG is one of the organizations that returns to the streets to protest. He will do it this Monday in Madrid together with the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers. The latter is part of the CEOE employers’ association. Precisely, these are two of the organizations that, last spring, did not reach an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture to seal the protests that were extended for several months and that revealed the wear and tear and internal division of the field. So, UPA and the Union of Unions – which until then the Ministry did not recognize as an interlocutor – did reach an agreement with Minister Luis Planas.
In recent days there have already been mobilizations, such as tractor demonstrations in Valladolid or Pamplona and, now, they are returning to Madrid. Asaja and COAG assure that “the demands of those protests are still valid” and give as an example that the operation of the Agri-Food Chain Law has not been strengthened. However, the focus of the new protests is on the agreement with Mercosur.
“If there is an issue that, at this time, represents a real threat to our sector, it is the proliferation of EU free trade agreements with third countries,” both organizations point out in the call for the new mobilizations. “Imports of agricultural products from Mercosur, Chile, Morocco or New Zealand” with “prices below our production costs and without complying with the regulations that prevail for community production, seriously impact Spanish and European farmers and cause unaffordable losses.” and farm closures,” they argue.
Planas has defended the pact with Mercosur as a “great news,” according to what he said a few days ago in Brussels. “We are an agri-food power and we should not fear trade opening,” he justified. “I understand that there may be concerns, but if we examine the quotas that have been adopted in relation to sensitive products, they are of a dimension that does not alter the community market,” he noted in an attempt to calm things down.
Agriculture believes that the agreement is positive, among other things, because it opens commercial opportunities, reduces entry barriers for Spanish products, increases the protection of our geographical indications and the controls and commitments in environmental and labor matters that countries will have to comply with. of Mercosur. Also, the standards required in the EU have to be applied in the countries of this trade alliance. “It is not negotiable,” indicate sources from the Ministry, which this week will meet with agricultural organizations to discuss this pact. “The EU limits pesticide residues, as well as the import and marketing of meat treated with growth hormones,” indicate the aforementioned sources.
“Any product sold in the EU must comply with all these standards” for plant and animal health and food safety, “which do not change at all with this agreement.” Furthermore, they believe that there are those who want to use the alliance with Mercosur as an excuse to confront, appealing more to feelings than to reasoning.
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