The Irish government has announced that it will not support the EU’s trade deal with the group of south American Mercosur countries, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The Mercosur trade deal is due to be put to a vote in Brussels on Friday.
The Irish Farmers Association has been vocal in its concerns about the deal which it fears will lead to Brazilian and Argentinian beef flooding the market and causing Irish farmers to go out of business.
The European Commission has tried to reassure Ireland and others that the deal has numerous safeguards in place that limits south American agri exports to Europe and the right to pause the deal if European farmers suffer nonetheless.
The EU continues to argue that the trade agreement will bring big benefits to European farmers by allowing “unprecedented access” to south American markets.
“At the same time, the agreement will shield Europe’s farmers from undue market pressure”, the European Commission says.
The EU is pushing the agreement because it believes it will have huge economic benefits by cutting tariffs on many goods ranging from car parts to cheese and from pharmaceuticals to chemicals.
Hungary says it will also vote against the deal.
European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, is due to travel to south America next week to sign the agreement.
In order for the vote to pass, it needs the support of a majority of EU member states.
In a statement, Tánaiste Simon Harris TD said:
“The Government’s position on Mercosur has always been clear: we did not support the deal in the form in which it was presented.”
He said they had expressed their concerns to the European Commission, but the Irish government remains dissatisfied.
“Unfortunately, the outcome in this negotiation is that although the EU has agreed to a number of additional measures, they are not sufficient to satisfy our citizens.
So our position stands. We will vote against the agreement.”
The European Commission Trade spokesperson, Olaf Gill, insisted that the deal is “essential economically, politically, strategically, [and] diplomatically for the European Union.”
“We believe the additional safeguards and protections we’ve put in place over the past 12 months, in particular to reassure our farming and agrifood constituencies, that we now have a deal on the table that can be supported in full confidence by all our member states.”