MERCOSUR AND AGRICULTURE: What you will NOT hear in today’s INTA Committee Hearing

As the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) holds its public hearing today on the EU-Mercosur agreement, the absence of Europe’s most sensitive and vulnerable agricultural sectors will speak louder than many of the statements in the room.

While the hearing features voices from export-oriented agri-food sectors and some civil society actors, European farmers and producers in the sugar, beef, poultry, maize, egg, and ethanol sectors are once again missing from the conversation, despite being among the most directly and negatively impacted by the agreement.

This selective framing of the public hearing risks presenting a partial and misleading picture that ignores the real and pressing concerns of the EU’s farming and food-producing communities across Europe. This exclusion is not accidental. It reflects a broader worrying trend: a deliberate reluctance to confront the uncomfortable truths and realities of the EU-Mercosur deal’s consequences.

What you will not hear today is that:

• Under the current agreement terms, EU farmers and manufacturers are expected to compete under on an uneven playing field, facing imports produced under lower environmental, social, sanitary and food safety /standards than in the EU, with no guarantee of reciprocity.
• European consumers are being misled into believing that imported products meet the same high standards as EU food, when in reality this is far from being the case.
• Sustainability provisions in the current agreement remain vague, unenforceable, and that the Commission’s proposed “compensation fund” is no substitute for robust, legally binding safeguard mechanisms.
• Market access concessions in the current deal pose an existential threat to EU farmers and producers of sugar, beef, poultry or ethanol.

Supporters of this Agreement will likely argue that the current geopolitical climate and the threat of US tariffs make it essential. While today’s trade tensions are indeed concerning, they are evolving rapidly, and we must not lose sight of the fact that this Agreement represents a long-term commitment. In the current urgency to diversify and de-risk we must not forget agriculture’s strategic importance—especially in times of crisis. Therefore, once again, we echo the longstanding and shared concerns voiced by our organisations for years: moving forward with this agreement in its current form would seriously undermine the EU’s own objectives and commitments on food security, sustainability, and fair competition.

If the European Parliament seeks a truly open, serious, and balanced debate, it must ensure that all voices, especially the most affected, are heard in the room.

Today’s hearing is a missed opportunity. But we urge MEPs to ask the tough questions and stand up for the principles of fair trade, reciprocity in standards, and the protection of Europe’s most sensitive agricultural sectors.

NOTE FOR THE PRESS: For more information on the impact on the sensitive agricultural sectors, please find here a series of factsheets outlining both the market impact and the examples of divergence in production standards.

On behalf of the following associations:

AVEC – Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade in the EU countries

CEFS – European Association of Sugar Manufacturers

CEPM – European Confederation of Maize Production

CIBE – International Confederation of European Beet Growers

COPA-COGECA – The united voice of farmers and their cooperatives in the European Union

ePURE – European Renewable Ethanol Association

EUWEP – European Union of Wholesale with Eggs, Egg Products, Poultry and Game

iEthanol – European Industrial & Beverage Ethanol Association

SELMA – The Sustainable European Livestock & Meat Association

For further information, please contact:

Birthe Steenberg – Secretary General AVEC׀ELPHA׀EPB +32 492 10 75 71 bs@avec-poultry.eu

Catherine Jaworowska– Communications & Social Affairs Officer CEFS +32 2 774 51 07 catherine.jaworowska@cefs.org   

Arthur Boy – Policy Advisor for economic affairs CEPM +33 6 79 05 78 31 arthur.boy@agpm.com

Elisabeth Lacoste – Director CIBE +32 2 50 46 091 elisabeth.lacoste@cibe-europe.eu

Ksenija Simovic – Senior Policy Advisor COPA-COGECA +32 473 66 30 71 ksenija.simovic@copa-cogeca.eu 

Craig Winneker – Director of Communications ePURE +32 2 657 35 69 winneker@epure.org

Clara Hagen – Secretary General EUWEP +31 30 637 8844 Clara.Hagen@euwep.org

Gabriela Tatian – Director of Government Affairs iEthanol +32 (0) 470624246 tatian@iethanol.eu

Baptiste Pruvost – Policy Officer SELMA +33 6 76 72 91 95 contact@selma-association.com