He . While France is filled with slurry thrown by furious farmers and ranchers, the European Parliament has given the green light with 431 votes in favor, 161 against and 70 abstentions to a document that can be key for definitive support from Brussels to the rural pact with the American countries.
It’s about the calls ‘‘safeguard’ clauses to “protect” European producers in the face of possible commercial disadvantages with producers of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay and possible “sudden flows” from these signatory countries of the agreement with the European Union.
With its favorable vote this Tuesday, the European Parliament has supported halving the margins for increased imports and falling prices for these sensitive products that would give rise to an EU investigation. going from the 10% initially planned to 5%.
This means, translated into more direct language, that the European Commission is more attentive and intervenes, limiting tariff advantages initially planned in a free trade pactif you see that imports of agricultural elements from the Mercosur countries have increased compared to the average of the last three years. Likewise, the Commission would take action if the price is at least 5% of that of the same European product.
Among the key products most analyzed in recent times are beef, chicken, dairy, sugar, rice or ethanol.
Likewise, the package approved by Strasbourg includes an amendment that forces the Mercosur producers to meet the same environmental and health requirements that the EU producers, the so-called ‘mirror clauses’ that had opened so many cracks in the primary sector by not appearing in the first version of the agreement
According to sources in Brussels, these safeguard clauses will allow any risk to be identified at an early stage and act “quickly” to remedy possible negative effects. Likewise, the Commission reserves the right to study the European market as a whole or particularly that of one or more Member State(s).
The MEP responsible for negotiating this agreement – parallel to Mercosur – has been the popular Spanish Gabriel Mato. After the vote, the PP parliamentarian promised to make “every possible effort” to defend the most ambitious position of the European Parliament, focusing on the need for these safeguards “to continue advancing with protection for the agricultural sector”, which “has, had and will surely continue to have concerns” regarding the agreement with the American countries.
“But I think that [esas preocupaciones] are very clearly dissipated with this mechanism that we have approvedbecause it is a solid mechanism, it is operational and also responds to the legitimate concerns of the agricultural sector,” added Gabriel Mato.
Once the European Parliament has given its approval, the final ‘yes’ is expected from the heads of State and Government of the ‘Twenty-seven’, gathered at the European Council this Thursday and Friday. This formal step was required by the current EU presidency, Denmark, to propose the final signature to approve the free trade agreement.
That rubric could take place this Saturday in Brazila year after the initial signature sealed in Montevideo at the end of 2024… and by the European Union.
