Poland and France promise to argue the EU's dangerous agricultural agreement with Mercosur

pch24.pl 7 months ago

Diplomatic efforts are underway to build a number that will block the implementation of the free trade agreement between Europe and the Mercosur countries," said Deputy Prime Minister, head of MON Władysław Kosiniak-Kamish on Tuesday. In a akin way, representatives of the French government are speaking.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced after the Tuesday government gathering that Poland would not accept the EU-South Common marketplace (Mercosur) agreement in its current form.

Also on Tuesday, the conference on Mercosur was organised by Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Head of MRIT Krzysztof Paszyk and Deputy Head of MRIRW Stefan Krajewski.

– It's not a safe deal. This agreement does not supply a sense of safety and does not warrant the safety of food quality or the safety of the improvement of their farms. We are in favour of protecting the European market, protecting the Polish market, due to the fact that we know under what conditions we produce He promised Kosiniak-Kamish.

– Polish farmers, in order to sale good food, must meet very demanding standards and have immense restrictions, which are the consequence of many years of EU action. In the countries of South America... it surely does not run in specified standards as in the European Union – added Deputy Prime Minister. He informed that there are presently " diplomatic efforts to build a number that will block the Mercosur deal". According to him, specified a number can be built “although of course it will not be easy”.

Minister of improvement and Technology Krzysztof Paszyk, who attended the conference, announced that a gathering with representatives of the French government was scheduled next week, which, like Poland, is 1 of the largest food producers in the EU, and is besides against Mercosur. associate of Donald Tusk's government added that the most crucial subject of the talks would be the issue of building specified a coalition of minorities. – We have a number of arguments to build specified a number – he said.

Mr Stefan Krajewski, Vice-President of MRIRW, informed that talks with another countries, including Ireland and Belgium, would be held in the close future.

Representatives of the government have pointed out that the EU-Mercosur agreement needs to be decently balanced between the interests of industry, agriculture and European consumers in the context of food security. They stressed that agriculture has been a very strong component of the Polish economy for many years.

Poland has invested quite a few money to make farms modernise, adapt to environmental requirements, to this agriculture, which we call sustainable," said Paszyk. He added that the European Union agreement with the countries of South America will make Polish agriculture doomed to compete with agriculture, which "is present grown in the cut-out forests of the Amazon or cut-out, beautiful natural Brazil".

In turn, Deputy Head of MRIRW Stefan Krajewski stressed the importance of exporting Polish food to the Polish economy. – The value of agricultural products exported last year is PLN 236 billion, or 15% of full exports – informed.

Representatives of the government at the conference pointed out that it is in the interests of Poland and Polish farmers that our products should go to 3rd countries alternatively than food from South America. In particular, "there are no strict environmental standards or crop and animal husbandry."

France declares resistance

French agriculture minister Annie Genevard announced on Tuesday that Paris would argue the EU's negotiated free trade agreement with the countries of South America, as it does not presently supply fair competition for farmers in France.

"In the current situation", the draft EU-Mercosur agreement does not supply French farmers with "conditions of fair competition", said the Minister, who attended the National Assembly (lower home of Parliament). However, she stated that, according to her, it would be irresponsible to oppose, in principle, any free trade agreement.

The minister besides listed Poland as a country whose government besides announced opposition to the agreement.

The day before Genevard said that France was making advancement on creating a number blocking the EU-Mercosur agreement.

The National Assembly will hold a vote on the agreement on Tuesday. The French Government is counting on unanimous opposition from MEPs, which would strengthen Paris' position towards the European Commission, which is negotiating on behalf of the associate States. However, the vote is not binding. In June 2023, the National Assembly adopted a resolution opposing the agreement and did not affect negotiations in Brussels.

Rejection of the EU-Mercosur Agreement is the main request of French farmers who have late resumed protests across the country of FNSEA (the main trade union of farmers) Arnaud Rousseau said on Tuesday that opposition to the contract was for her a "existential struggle".

Vice-President of the second largest agricultural union, agrarian Coordination (CR), Sophie Lenaerts called for the exclusion of agriculture from free trade agreements. – We defend the exception to agriculture. You can no longer trade steak for a car said, referring to the subject of the contract. On Tuesday, about 50 tractors with CR farmers appeared on the streets of Strasbourg.

Two decades of preparation

The free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur has been under way for more than 20 years. The negotiations on the trade component were already mostly concluded by political agreement in 2019. The ongoing discussions are on sustainable improvement issues and are inactive ongoing. At this point, the EU associate States have not been accepted as a full and as a final proposal for an agreement - the Ministry notes.

The European Commission considers that the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement will benefit the EU as a whole, in peculiar as regards the industrial sector, maritime transport, but besides the profits for certain segments of agri-food production.

During the negotiations, Poland made demands in the EU regarding the agricultural area of negotiations. – We have reported them on our own and in joint speeches with EU countries with akin positions on the sensitivity of the agricultural sector. erstwhile assessing the results of the talks to date, the MRIRP states that our requests were only partially taken into account – informs the ministry. He added that the adoption of the agreement in the current plan could make a threat of displacing Polish agricultural products from the markets of another EU countries by products imported from Mercosur countries (especially in the poultrymeat and beef sector).