A study by the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU, has admitted that trade agreements recently entered into or still being negotiated would result in “greater competition” for certain agricultural sectors.
The document is centred on agreements with Australia, Chile, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand, which have been negotiated or concluded but not yet been implemented.
The study holds that trade agreements open up “new opportunities for EU agrifood exporters."
Nevertheless, the document admits that "a few sensitive sectors, in particular beef, sheep meat, poultry, rice and sugar, are expected to face greater competition by the 10 partners mentioned in the study."
According to this document, this admission "validates the EU’s current approach to systematically protect sensitive sectors with carefully calibrated tariffs."
This tool, “essential to trade agreements, may help mitigate possible market disturbances, thus bringing protection to farmers and agrifood producers in the EU,” the text states.
Such trade agreements are one of the sources of the rage of European agricultural producers, who since mid-January started a wave of mass protests from Spain to Poland.
The main claim of agricultural producers is that EU national governments are not doing enough to mitigate the impact of what they are calling “unfair competition."
In that context, the fate of the agreement between the EU and Mercosur, whose negotiation has been painfully dragged for over two decades, has been covered by a thick blanket of uncertainty.
The study asserts that agreements, in general, will open up new markets for European producers, with increased revenue.
“The value of agrifood in the EU is estimated to be between €3.1 and 4.4 billion (between US$3.3 and US$4.7 billion) higher in 2032 than it would have been without these 10 trade agreements.
“Trade opportunities are expected to be developed for EU agrifood producers, such as dairy, wine and other drinks and processed agrifood products,” the study pointed out.
– TIMES/AFP
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