European lawmakers and EU governments are heading for a showdown over how far to go in protecting farmers under the Mercosur trade agreement.
On Tuesday, MEPs backed a safeguard clause for the deal, a measure designed to strengthen monitoring of the EU market in the event of a surge in imports from Latin America, with tariff reductions to be suspended in case of serious disruption.
The package approved by lawmakers also includedan amendment requiring Mercosur products to meet EU environmental and health production standards – a move that cuts across guarantees already endorsed by member states.
The agreement, which was struck in 2024, has opened deep divisions in Europe. EU farmers argue the deal would expose them to unfair competition from Latin American imports, while supporters say it would unlock new markets vital for the EU economy.
“Safeguard clauses and mirror clauses are complementary: you can’t protect the market solely on the basis of volumes and prices without shielding our farmers from unfair competition. Anything else is just smoke and mirrors,” said Belgian MEP Benoît Cassart (Renew), who pushed to introduce the amendment.
Member states fall in line
The Mercosur agreement, struck between the European Commission on the one side and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay on the other, aims to create a transatlantic free trade area covering 700 million people.
The Commission’s safeguard clause won the backing of member states in November, and the 27 are expected to vote on the full deal this week. But support for the safeguards does not amount to approval of the agreement as a whole, with opponents saying they endorsed the measures only to ensure farmers will be better protected if the deal eventually enters into force.
The main bone of contention now is a “reciprocity clause” pushed by MEPs that would impose EU production standards on Mercosur goods, a provision absent from the text approved by member states. Talks between EU lawmakers and governments to find a way forward are set to start on Wednesday afternoon.
The outcome could stoke further anger among EU farmers, who plan to protest on Thursday during an EU summit, arguing the safeguards fall short.
On Sunday, France called for the vote on the full deal to be postponed. French farmers are angry at the government’s handling of lumpy skin disease, a highly contagious cattle virus.
Safeguards and reciprocity clauses have long been among Paris’s core demands.
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