The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Commission faces heat over Mercosur imports
The European Commission is continuing to face opposition to its plans to allow some tariff-free imports of beef and other sensitive products as part of a free trade deal with the Mercosur countries of South America.
Other products where concessions are being resisted include ethanol and poultry.
Eleven member states have now come out and said the Commission is wrong to make any offer on these products.
They believe decisions should be made on a product-by-product basis, based on whether there is a demand for imports.
COPA, the farm lobby organisation, has also joined this debate. It has warned against concessions, on grounds that demand for beef has fallen and the fact Brexit will pose challenges to the beef market that cannot be quantified.
The Commission is committed to securing an early trade deal with South America. Its offer on beef was modest at 78,000 tonnes and will be difficult to reduce. Pressure against a deal is being led by Ireland, supported by France.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has confirmed he is prepared to back significant changes to CAP.
Macron was elected to the presidency on the basis of a commitment to transform France’s over-regulated economy, and it seems agriculture is part of his plan.
In a major speech he called for a more flexible and less bureaucratic CAP that would ensure food security in Europe – exactly the sort of ideas the UK would have been pursuing if had remained in the EU.
He claimed a new CAP must better protect farmers against volatility while encouraging change.
Macron also pressed for more subsidiarity to allow decision making to be devolved from Brussels to member states.
France is the biggest beneficiary of CAP funds, and this is the first time official policy has been for radical reform of the CAP.
In the wake of the fipronil in eggs scandal the European Commission has overhauled its food safety regulations.
The changes are designed to make the existing system more effective. They include better coordination between those responsible for the Rapid Alert warning system and other agencies, so that information can be passed on more quickly to member states.
It has also been agreed that the Commission will appoint an official responsible for food safety in every member state.
Brussels says its aim is to ensure that information reaches consumers in a ‘more coherent and swift’ manner.
Meanwhile it has emerged that in the debate over glyphosate (Roundup) France is pressing the Commission to reduce to five to seven years the re-licensing period.
This has already been reduced in the proposal from 15 to 10.
The French demand is purely political. If accepted by the Commission it could leave it open to legal action, on grounds the restriction is not science-based.