The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) is to protest on Wednesday May 4, in Dublin against the proposed Mercosur and TTIP trade deals. The protest will take place outside the offices of the European Commission in the Irish capital.
Brussels must do more to help producers ride out the slump in agricultural commodity prices, European farm leaders have warned. Immediate solutions were needed to tackle the “unprecedented” crisis that had hit agricultural markets, said European farm umbrella organization Copa-Cogeca.
The first reactions to the announced Mercosur-European trade deal and exchange of proposals next week have surfaced. The Ulster Farmers’ Union president, Ian Marshall, says the European Union trade deal on offer to Mercosur countries is an ‘unacceptable risk’ to the livelihoods of farmers in Northern Ireland.
The European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and Rodolfo Nin Novoa, Foreign Minister of Uruguay, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the South American trading bloc Mercosur, agreed on Friday in Brussels on the next steps in the negotiations on an EU-Mercosur trade agreement.
Uruguay Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa is scheduled to begin this Friday in Brussels what is believed to be the last round of talks with the European Union to reach a wide ranging cooperation and trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union.
The Irish Farmers' Association has described an European Union offer to allow limited access to the EU market for Mercosur beef producers as “unfair”. The offer, which includes beef producers in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, is about to be presented to European Union member states for discussion, ahead of a proposed formal exchange of offers as part of the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations in May.
Argentina and Spain have decided to re-launch bilateral mechanisms that have been “asleep” for too long, promoting political and trade relations, said Argentine foreign minister Susana Malcorra who on Monday met with her visiting Spanish peer, Jose Manuel García/Margallo.
Mercosur is a fundamental legal milestone in regional integration, and a turning point in the history of member countries, said Uruguay's foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa during a conference celebrating the 25th anniversary, (March 1991), of the founding of the South American group, who nevertheless admitted serious challenges.
Argentina is willing to “make concessions” in order to move forward with a free-trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU), which will likely allow a greater export of agricultural produce, according to Argentina's Trade Secretary Miguel Braun who then reveled that trade offers will be exchanged on April 8.
Argentine president Mauricio Macri is scheduled to receive in a week's time the European Union head of foreign affairs, Federica Mogherini who is expected to announce that all is ready to begin, next April, formal negotiations for the long-delayed trade and cooperation agreement between Mercosur and the EU.