In today's article in the "Lawyer on the Farm" series, we will deviate from the topic of renewable energy sources. This stems from the fact that the European Commission's negotiations with Mercosur countries are generating increasing controversy in the agri-food community.
Before we discuss the key assumptions of future cooperation, it's worth providing a historical context, as work on a free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur countries has been ongoing for over 20 years. However, the final draft of the agreement has already been submitted to EU member states for approval. Furthermore, the agreement's main supporters, Germany and Spain, want it signed this year.
The most important assumptions of this trade agreement are: (i) liberalization of customs duties in mutual trade in goods, (ii) cooperation in veterinary and phytosanitary matters, (iii) protection of geographical indications, (iv) liberalization of trade in services, (v) liberalization of access to the public procurement market, (vi) many other issues of trade and economic cooperation covered in nearly forty chapters and annexes.
In fact, the above cooperation and liberalization involve the mutual opening of markets, but what will this entail in practice? The basic premise is the elimination of customs duties in mutual trade, including agricultural products. The most controversial issues concern the quantity and type of products/goods imported into EU countries affected by customs liberalization, as they concern the following goods: (i) fresh, frozen, and processed beef; fresh, frozen, and processed pork; fresh, frozen, and processed poultry; salted or dried sheep and goat meat; (ii) milk, cream, and cheese; egg yolks and albumins, (iii) honey, garlic, bananas, corn and sorghum, rice, corn and cassava starch, cane sugar for refining, (iv) sugar syrups and certain processed products with high sugar content, sweet corn, wine, rum, ethanol, (v) baby food.
As regards products imported by Mercosur, the aforementioned liberalisation is to cover products such as: (i) dairy products, (ii) infant formula, (iii) garlic.
We note that in the first year of the trade agreement, tariff liberalization for poultry imports to EU countries is expected to apply to 30,000 tons, with the goal of reaching 180,000 tons by the sixth year of cooperation. For beef, this figure is nearly 20,000 tons, with the goal of reaching 100,000 tons. It's also worth emphasizing that for products such as milk powder and cheese, the goal is to completely abolish import limits.
In our opinion, lowering tariffs and opening the market to cheaper products from Mercosur countries could destabilize the Polish agricultural sector. Primarily, this would mean that products that do not meet the EU's high standards would enter our market. This is a very serious problem, one that Polish farmers have already encountered during the increased import of wheat from Ukraine.
The EU's draft trade agreement with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay clearly places Polish farmers and consumers in an unfair competitive environment. Mercosur food products that fail to meet EU quality and environmental standards could displace local, traditional products, threatening the future of Polish and European producers.
Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that such cooperation could also bring benefits, as maritime transport, the industrial sector, the dairy sector, and the processed agricultural products sector will certainly benefit from the potential agreement. Furthermore, the European Commission's assurances should not be overlooked, emphasizing that EU food safety standards will be maintained and rigorously enforced for imports from Mercosur countries.
In view of the above, we are very pleased with the attitude of the Polish government, which understands that European agriculture is more than competitiveness, and that quality, product safety and environmental protection are priorities of the European Union and key values for the well-being of consumers.
We will closely monitor further EU actions related to this agreement and hope that the voices of countries such as Poland, France and Ireland will lead to the negotiation of conditions that will not lead to the collapse of European agriculture and will be acceptable to all EU countries.
In the next articles, which we invite you to read now, we will continue the topic of Renewable Energy Sources!
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of November 27, 2024
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