Taoiseach’s First Visit to France an Opportunity to Raise Mercosur with President Macron – IFA

IFA President Joe Healy said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s first visit to France today to meet President Emmanuel Macron is an opportunity to discuss the Mercosur negotiations and strongly support the tough stance taken by President Macron.

Joe Healy said, “One of the aims of this visit is to improve bilateral relations with the French. The threat posed by the Mercosur deal to EU agriculture and especially the beef sector should be to the forefront of the discussions between the Taoiseach and President Macron”.

The IFA President said France has always been a strong ally of Ireland’s on farming issues and the Taoiseach should build on this historical alliance to send a strong message to the EU Commission that Mercosur would be very damaging for our single largest farm sector.

Last week, the French President insisted that the negotiations would be discussed at the EU Summit, at which he warned against rushing into a deal with the South American countries, including Brazil.

Joe Healy said, “The beef sector in Ireland is more important to our national economy than any other member state. The Taoiseach has recently raised the danger for Irish beef farmers in the event of a Mercosur deal with the Commission President Jean Claude Junckner, and we expect him to keep our concerns to the forefront at EU level.

“There is a huge gulf between high production standards involved in EU beef production and the failure on standards that apply to imports from countries like Brazil and other South American states. It is completely unacceptable that the EU Commission continues to accept this policy of double standards when it comes to imports.”