AgriMin Barbu: Romania opposes free trade agreement with Mercosur countries

Romania opposes the free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries taking into consideration that this will bring significant prejudice to the food sector and the Romanian farmers, says minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Florin Barbu.‘Romania is against this agreement. The Romanian farmers will be affected. I requested the commissionaire (Christophe Hansen, European Commissionaire for Agriculture –o.n) to give agriculture a transition period of three years within this agreement. There are still discussions at the EU level, no decision has been taken. That is why we need a head a state to assume the position against Mercosur. This is the most important pillar for the president who will be elected the Romanias, to be against Mercosur’ stated Florin Barbu.He mentioned that, initially, the majority of the EU states were against the agreement but at present Italy has a different approach.‘If Italy agreed, we might have the majority. In my opinion, the European Commission, I don’t think can afford, if there is no majority to approve Mercosur. I tell you, in case Mercosur is approved, I will not sign where unanimity is requested, I will not vote for nothing. I will tell them in the Council for Ministers’ the MADR head said.The Alliance for Agriculture and Co-operation (AAC) has recently conveyed, during the COPA-COGECA meetings held in Brussels, that Romania opposes the Mercosur Agreement in its current form, because of the damage to the Romanian agri-food sector. In this context, the organisation's representatives said that, if the threshold of a minority of countries representing 35% of the EU population is not met to block the agreement, the national parliament and the Romanian representatives in the European Parliament will not ratify it, thus avoiding its application at least until 2030. 'Although compensatory measures are being discussed, they would be insufficient in relation to the negative impact and would not reach those most affected,' the CAA said in a statement.   During the discussion with Leopoldo Rubinacci, deputy director-general of DG Trade for Romania, the CAA called for the future free trade agreement to extend the list of sensitive sectors to at least wheat and barley for which there is no limit, importing around 7% of European production from Ukraine, the reintroduction of tariff quotas at the pre-war level and the mobilisation of Ukraine to resume its previous markets.   On 27 February, the Romanian farmers showed their solidarity with their colleagues from the Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria who started protests against the unfair European agricultural policies, massive imports of agricultural products from third countries and the vitality of a distinct and strong budget for PAC 2028- 2034.According to the Alliance for Agriculture and Co-operation, Romanian farmers face the same problems as their European colleagues: market distortions caused by duty-free imports from Ukraine, the harmful impact of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement on the competitiveness of European agricultural production, the increasing bureaucratic burden imposed by Brussels regulations and the lack of concrete provisions for a strong and distinct CAP budget in the EU's Vision for the Future of EU Agriculture.   ‘These measures endanger the food security, destroy local supply chains and affect the incomes of European farmers’ said the representatives of the Alliance.In this context, the AAC calls on Romanian and EU decision-makers to: cancel the EU-Mercosur agreement, which would allow massive imports of agricultural products from South America, seriously affecting the competitiveness of European farmers; renegotiate EU-Ukraine trade relations in order to protect the European agricultural market and ensure a level playing field; guarantee fair agricultural policies that ensure real protection for the internal market and European farmers; reduce bureaucracy and excessive regulations imposed by Brussels, which hamper agricultural activity. The President of France, Emmanuel Macron stated on 27 February, before the opening of the 61st Agricultural Fair in Paris that France continues to find a ‘blockage of minority’ in the European Union on the free trade agreement with the South-American countries in Mercosur, said AFP.'Our farmers cannot be the adjustment variable of purchasing power (...), nor the adjustment variable of agricultural agreements. And that is why we are opposed to the agreement with Mercosur as it was signed,' the French head of state said at the time. Paris opposes the agreement with Mercosur, arguing that the South American bloc must respect EU rules to avoid unfair competition.   Intended to liberalise trade between the EU and five Latin American countries, the trade treaty was signed on 6 December 2024, but needs to be ratified to be applied. 'It is a bad text as it was signed. And so we will do everything we can to make sure it does not go its way, to protect this French and European food sovereignty,' the French president added before the opening of the Salon Agricole.   In order to ratify, this free trade agreement must be approved by at least 15 member states representing 65% of the EU population, and then to get a majority in the European Parliament. Set up in 1991, Mercosur, short for 'Common Market of the South', brings together five countries - Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia (not covered by the agreement) from 2023. Another member, Venezuela, has been suspended since 2016.