The European Conservatives and Reformists Group has called for more concessions for European farmers in the debate on the state of play of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.

“Today, this agreement is still too unbalanced and too punitive for our agriculture. And we cannot support it under these conditions,” said Carlo Fidanza, ECR coordinator in the Agriculture Committee. Fidanza admitted that Mercosur had many advantages in terms of geopolitical motives and undeniable opportunities for growth in many sectors. But the trade deal would hurt European farmers, whose competitiveness is already weakened by “stifling bureaucracy and an unbalanced distribution of profitability along supply chains”. In particular, European farmers would be severely disadvantaged by laxer production conditions in South America.

“It is true that the lack of reciprocity, the guarantee that South American producers can continue to use pesticides that we have long banned, the lack of reliable on-the-spot checks on health standards and against counterfeiting, and the European customs procedures for imports in many European ports tip the balance in favour of the legitimate and well-founded concerns of the farming community,” said Fidanza, explaining why the ECR could not support the Mercosur deal at this stage.

“A safeguard clause that is difficult to activate or the one billion euros earmarked for compensation will not be enough to reassure our producers”, concluded Fidanza.