Copa and Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen said “We are behind the EU Commission’s proposal to block meat imports coming from 20 Brazilian meat plants as they fail to meet the EU’s high standards. This is not the first time that insufficient controls have been detected there. We cannot afford to undermine the high quality and traceability standards that we have in the EU”.
Chairman of Copa and Cogeca’s beef working party Jean Pierre Fleury also urged the Commission to assess results from European Parliament’s fact finding mission to the meat sector in Brazil this April and to take action. The call came after French MEP Michel Dantin presented the report to Copa and Cogeca’s beef working party this week, saying "After our mission in Brazil, it is clear now that Brazil does not fulfil basic EU sanitary requirements. EU trade negotiators should have this in mind when granting major concessions to Brazil in the EU-Mercosur deal. This is the health of our citizens and the future of farmers and rural areas which is at stake".
Studies also show that the EU is already 102% self-sufficient in beef production and that the cumulative impact of trade deals being negotiated with non-EU countries combined with the potential impact of Brexit would cause the market to be oversupplied and beef prices to plummet by 16%, putting at risk growth and jobs in rural areas .
Copa and Cogeca consequently urge the EU not to give any further concessions on sensitive agriculture products in return for gains in other economic sectors in the trade talks with the Latin American trade block Mercosur. The majority of EU beef, sugar, rice, ethanol, poultry and orange juice imports already come from these countries. The current EU offer is already unrealistic and seriously endangers the EU’s agriculture sector.
