The livestock sector views the Free Trade Agreement that is being developed between Brussels and Canberra with uncertainty. It considers that it could affect regional lamb production because it contemplates an increase in meat imports twelve times higher than the volumes allowed at this time.
In 2018, the European Union and Australia began negotiations to advance a Free Trade Agreement to eliminate trade barriers between both territories. A couple of years ago both parties finalized this and signed a Memorandum to cooperate in mineral exploitation, critical and other strategic areas.
The agricultural organization COAG criticizes the consequences of this type of agreements, such as those already signed with Mercosur and India. Vicente Carrión, head of livestock at COAG, perceives that his sector is always the pagan one.
The livestock sector is the one that they estimate could be most affected. In Murcia it is supported by 2,800 farms that generate a business volume that exceeds 400 million euros and account for 27% of final agricultural production. Vicente Carrión.
DON’T LIKE MERCOSUR EITHER
The agricultural organizations reject the provisional application of the commercial part of the association agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Mercosur countries. They consider it a “contempt” for their demands and are studying new mobilizations.
The announcement by the President of the European Executive, Ursula von der Leyen, to provisionally apply the agreement after completing its ratification by Argentina and Uruguay ignores the demands that the sector has been raising for years. José Miguel Marín president of COAG Region of Murcia.
Farmers describe it as particularly worrying that the agreement is being promoted on a provisional basis as it contradicts the Commission’s repeated assurances that a trade agreement is of such broad scope. They also warn of unfair competition and the risk to public health of the arrival of meat from Brazil with hormones prohibited in community territory, such as oestradiol.
The association agreement between the EU and Mercosur has been negotiated for more than 25 years with Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay and will create a market of 720 million people. Farmers are studying new mobilizations after its application.
