Farm organisations continue to oppose Mercosur deal

Agriculture minister in Brussels today for extraordinary meeting with Commission

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, is attending an extraordinary meeting of European agriculture ministers with three European Commissioners - for Agriculture and Food, Trade, and Food Safety - in Brussels today as farm organisations in Ireland continue to rail against the Mercosur trade deal, expected to be adopted later this week.

The president of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), Francie Gorman, says that the Government must continue to oppose the Mercosur trade agreement despite the latest move by the EU Commission to link it to CAP funding.

The IFA leader dismissed the latest ploy by the Commission to get Member States on board for the Mercosur trade deal by making a convoluted proposal on CAP funding.

Ahead of a potential vote of EU Member State Ambassadors on Friday as part of the ratification process, Francie Gorman said the Government must hold firm on its commitment in the Programme for Government and vote no to Mercosur.

“Trying to link Mercosur to the CAP smacks of desperation and shows the Mercosur deal cannot stand on its own two feet. The two are separate issues and should remain so,” he said.

Francie Gorman said he has been in contact with Massimiliano Giansanto, the president of the European farm organisation, COPA, ahead of an urgent meeting of the COPA Presidency tomorrow. This meeting will further co-ordinate farmer opposition to the deal, following COPA and IFA’s successful protest in Brussels last month which led to the Member State vote being postponed.

“This deal is bad for Irish farmers and very damaging for public health, based on the findings of the IFA/Farmers Journal investigation two months ago and the recent Brazilian beef recall due to the presence of hormones. The Government cannot countenance any position that would offer any sign of support for this deal,” he said.

Francie Gorman said whatever happens this week, the European Parliament still has to ratify this deal. “Farmers will expect Irish MEPs to oppose this deal and to work with colleagues to build opposition to it.”

The president of Macra, Josephine O’Neill, also expressed deep concern about the potential consequences of the proposed EU–Mercosur trade agreement for Irish agriculture, while strongly criticising the Irish Government for its ongoing lack of a clear and decisive position on the issue.

Ms O’Neill highlighted that Irish farmers are held to some of the highest environmental, animal welfare, and traceability standards in the world, while Mercosur countries are not required to meet equivalent criteria.

“This is not a level playing field. Irish farmers are being asked to do more every year, more regulation, more compliance, more environmental ambition, yet they are expected to compete with imports produced to standards that would not be permitted here,” she said.

“Young farmers are being encouraged to invest in their futures, to take on farms, and to innovate. However, trade deals like Mercosur send the opposite message; that their efforts and standards can be undercut overnight,” Ms O’Neill added. “This threatens not only farm viability but the social fabric of rural Ireland.”

Macra is calling on the Government to clearly oppose the Mercosur agreement in its current form and to prioritise the protection of Irish agriculture, food standards, and rural livelihoods.

The president of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, has criticised the Irish Government’s “non-performance” in opposing the proposed Mercosur Agreement and he said that that the Irish Government has been “marked absent” throughout the last year in terms of taking an official and high-profile position of opposition.

Mr Drennan said that the Irish Government’s ‘handwringing’ and tacit acceptance stood in stark contrast to the position of, for instance, the French Government which “not for the first time” had been more vociferous and proactive on behalf of Irish farming and agriculture than our own Government.

“The leaks coming from ‘sources’ that the agreement will be finalised by Friday make perfectly clear that agreement has been reached through the usual EU expedient of selling-out its own farmers and indigenous food production. What this means in practice is that the Mercosur group of countries will be allowed to export sub-standard beef and other products into the EU - products of a standard that would have them rejected out-of-hand if produced on Irish or other EU farms – and in return, financial services, pharma and German autos will be allowed unfettered access to the South American states involved. Everybody needs to be clear: there will be breaches of whatever regulations the EU pretends will apply to those South American imports. We have been here before and the standards were not kept – and they won’t be kept this time. No-one can say that they weren’t told or warned”, said Mr Drennan.

Mr Drennan said that whatever happened, the credibility of the EU and our own government in terms of climate change and other sustainability policies is effectively ‘shot’ and no weight could now be attached to pronouncements on the need for improved sustainability or lower emissions.

“Even at this late stage, the Irish Government could – and should - stand up for Irish farmers and the principles, standard and science that we have all operated under for 20 years. They could – and should - call out Mercosur for what it demonstrably is: a complete sell-out of sustainable farming and declare that Ireland will reject Mercosur in its current format”, he concluded.

Ahead of today’s meeting, Minister Heydon said: “The meeting offers a valuable opportunity to address the concerns expressed recently by European farmers, who are clearly feeling excluded and uncertain about their future. As I have said previously, if the post-2027 CAP is to deliver for food security and environmental sustainability, as well as safeguarding the continued viability of our farmers and rural communities, adequate and stable funding must be the starting point.”

“The EU Budget (MFF) proposals published last summer proposed a ring-fenced amount of €293 billion for the CAP Budget for 2028-2034. When compared to the allocation in the current round (€387 billion), this is clearly inadequate, considering our shared ambition for a sustainable, competitive and innovative agri-food sector which assures European food security, produces safe nutritious food, and is attractive for the next generation of farmers.”

MEP Ciaran Mullooly and Independent Ireland have organised a protest against the agreement for Athlone on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Francie Gorman said confirmation today that Brazilian beef containing banned hormones entered the Irish food chain and is now subject to an official recall by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland should be a wake-up call for the Irish Government.

“This shows that the undertaking from Brazil about the processes they have in place are completely flawed and wholly ineffective,” he said.

“This EU audit which uncovered these hormones is getting worse and worse, with more EU countries being embroiled. The EU must publish the full details of this immediately and before there is any vote on the Mercosur deal,” he said.

“In 2024, another EU audit found that the Brazilian system to stop hormones entering the EU food chain could not be relied upon. We were told by the EU that Brazil implemented an action plan to address this. Yet, hormones have now entered the EU and Irish food chain. This has to be a red line for the Irish Govt on Mercosur,” he said.

“The question is are Brazil misleading the EU or are the EU misleading their citizens. We need full disclose immediately,” he said.