Europe’s farmers join call for ‘ equitable’ trade deal
While farming bodies across the UK have been pushing the UK to reach an equitable deal with the EU in the Brexit negotiations which will allow tariff- and friction- free trade to continue, their counterparts on mainland Europe have been doing the same.
And this week the umbrella group of farming organisations on the continent, Co pa-Co geca, warned that the prospect of negotiators failing to reach a deal would result in a devastating double whammy for farmers, agri- food businesses and traders who were already struggling to cope with the Covid- 19 pandemic.
With the ninth round of negotiations beginning next week and time almost out, the body called for negotiators to find the necessary resolve to do everything in their power to agree to a future trade agreement that supports business and jobs – and helps protect trade between the two blocks worth £ 34.75 billion.
“The agreement must seek to maintain a level playing field between the EU and the UK, as well as protect the integrity of the single market,” it said.
Struggling with the same uncertainties on future trade as their UK counterparts, the organisation warned that with less than four months before the end of the transition period, too many uncertainties made planning impossible.
“In particular, food operators from both sides of the Channel need to know the UK’S regulatory regime on plant health, animal health, food and feed controls, and any future requirements impacting EU exports,” it continued.
The organisation also said that given the impending difficulties, the € 5bn ( £ 4.5bn) Brexit Adjustment Reserve to be available in Europe should be made available swiftly for the agri- food sector, one of the sectors worst- hit by the effects of Brexit.
Meanwhile MPS on the Commons international trade select committee was being asked to help stop UK sheep producers being made the sacrificial lambs in trade deals with Australia and New Zealand.
Calling for safeguards to be introduced domestic sheep farming, the National Sheep Association warned that a deal with these two countries would be a one - way street f or lambs and wool imports.
“For our sheep farming sector the trade deals with New Zealand and Australia probably present the biggest risks,” said NSA chief executive Phil Stocker.
“At a time when our established trade with the EU is under threat, a trade that takes 35 – 40 per cent of all UK sheepmeat produced and totalling 96 per cent of the total UK sheepmeat exports, we must be aware that we could suddenly have little choice but to be more reliant on our domestic market,” he said.
Stocker argued that it was entirely unreasonable to ask UK producers to compete on price with those in Australia and New Zealand.
He said: “Farm structures are very different and UK producers are limited in terms of reducing production costs due to the high environmental and welfare standards that our public expect.
“The future of our sheep industry, with all its social, economic and environmental outcomes, should not be put at risk in any attempt to secure a trade agreement”.