•Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Harris
Ireland said today that it would vote against the European Union’s trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur, days before EU states are due to vote on the treaty.
“The government’s position on Mercosur has always been clear: we did not support the deal in the form in which it was presented,” Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Harris, said in a statement ahead of tomorrow’s vote.
“We will vote against the agreement,” he said.
The accord, more than 25 years in the making, would create one of the world’s largest free-trade areas, boosting commerce between the 27-nation EU and the Mercosur bloc comprising Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay, reports AFP.
But many European farmers fear they will be undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbours.
The EU decision on the deal was delayed in December in the face of opposition from France, Italy, Poland, and Ireland.
EU agriculture ministers have held crunch talks ahead of Friday’s vote, and most member states are expected to give it the final go-ahead.
But Harris said concessions made by the European Commission to tackle concerns did not go far enough for Dublin.
“Unfortunately, the outcome in this negotiation is that although the EU has agreed to a number of additional measures, they are not sufficient to satisfy our citizens,” he said.
Speaking in Beijing during an official visit to China, Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Micheal Martin told Irish media that “progress has been made” during the talks on issues like market safeguards and banned pesticides.
But he said “we have to be confident” that standards and obligations set for Irish farmers won’t be “undermined” by imports with less stringent regulations.
“We put in a lot of regulations, rightly so, that are very stringent in respect to consumer protection, food safety, carbon efficiency, [and] climate protection measures,” he added.
“We now have one of the most carbon-efficient food production systems in the world,” he said.
