The European Parliament has voted in favour of safeguards to protect farmers if the Mercosur deal goes ahead – despite three Irish MEPs opposing the plan and warning it does not go far enough.
The European Parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of the move by 484 votes to 101, with 67 abstentions after months of increasingly tense debate over the Mercosur deal.
The deal – which in effect makes it easier for Latin American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to sell beef products in the EU, and easier for EU member states such as Germany to sell cars in Latin America – is seen as key to ensuring the EU has alternative economic ties to traditional links with the US.
However, farmers groups in Ireland, Poland, Italy, France and Germany have all raised concerns over the potential impact on their industry and livelihood if cheaper meat products are introduced to the EU, in addition to disputed concerns over quality levels.
While European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen signed the deal in the days before Christmas, last month the European Parliament voted by a thin margin to send the deal to a European Court of Justice review which could take 18 months to complete.
The European Commission has appeared to downplay whether the deal will in reality stop while this review takes place, and has suggested the previously informally agreed safeguards to protect farmers could address concerns during that period.
Those informally agreed safeguards were formally agreed by today’s European Parliament vote, and says:
- the EU can temporarily suspend the tariff reductions in the deal if it is proven the deal is damaging EU farmers
- the European Commission will launch an investigation into the deal if overall meat products entering the bloc are at least 5% cheaper than EU products
- and an investigation may also be requested by a member state if a member state, industry, association or person can show evidence there is a “threat of serious injury to the industry”
While the safeguards were supported today by 484 MEPs including ten Irish MEPs, 101 MEPs voted against it – including Independent MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, and Sinn Féin MEPs Lynn Boylan and Kathleen Funchion.
Another Independent MEP, Michael McNamara, was not in attendance to vote due to a personal matter.
Mr Flanagan, Ms Boylan and Ms Funchion have previously made it clear they do not believe the Mercosur safeguard measures go far enough in protecting Irish farmers.
In response to the vote in Strasbourg this afternoon, the European Parliament’s standing rapporteur for Mercosur Gabriel Mato of the European People’s Party said: “The safeguards will ensure that the EU-Mercosur agreement is accompanied by a balanced and credible protection mechanism for our agricultural sector.
“They strengthen market monitoring, introduce clear and objective criteria to detect disruptions, and allow for faster action for sensitive products when there are indications of harm.
“They will provide farmers with stability and predictability, while preserving the overall balance of the agreement.”
