Sinn Féin MEPs Kathleen Funchion and Lynn Boylan have called on the EU Commission to scrap plans for the provisional application of the Mercosur Agreement:
This comes following the latest economic research supporting the long-held belief that it will lead to pressure on small European farmers and the global environment, with little economic growth to justify the deal.
Speaking from Strasbourg MEP Funchion said:
“Reports in the Financial Times of the latest economic analysis of the Mercosur deal by UN economists vindicates our long-held position that the trade deal is not in the interest of the vast majority involved.
“The latest research finds the Commission’s economic forecasts unrealistic and that the only big winner from the deal is a handful of large companies in Europe.
“This will come at the expense of small family farms, who will come under pressure due to price imports, and the Mercosur economies themselves which this report expects to shrink due to the deal.
“It is beyond clear that the cost of this deal far outweighs the benefits for both sides.
“After all the underhanded tactics of the Commission, it is not too late to take on board these new expert economic findings, and finally listen to the farmers who stood up against the deal.
“We are calling on the Commission to keep their word to the parliament by not provisionally applying the Mercosur deal this Friday and scrap the deal.”
Also Speaking from Strasbourg MEP Boylan said:
“This is further evidence that Mercosur is truly a rotten deal which will only benefit a handle of corporations, while sacrificing our environment, threatening our public health, and sabotaging our small farmers.
“The economic argument for Mercosur has always been less than convincing to say the least, with appeals to global trade liberalisation to mitigate Trump’s damaging agenda coming at an opportunistic time.
“The reality is, Mercosur is a life ring for a small number of large European companies and everyone else is supposed to pay for it to one extent or another.
“The Commission, and those MEPs, particularly Irish MEPs who supported Mercosur, must take this on board and not only overturn the decision on provisional application, but reject outright this rotten deal.
“This deal would be a drag on both our economies and more importantly on peoples’ livelihoods and the global environment.”
