Agreement with Mercosur
“Mr. Siekierski (Minister of Agriculture and Village Development Czesław Siekierski – PAP) informed me (…) Today about the conversations regarding implementation, and in our case blocking the Mercosur agreement about free trade with South American countries” – he said on Tuesday at a press conference after the meeting Government Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.
As he said, we are building a blocking minority, because unfortunately some countries are interested in implementation (Mercosur contracts – PAP) “. The deputy prime minister emphasized that Poland” is counting very much “on Italian government, whose prime minister is Giorgia Meloni. “It can support us. And Poland, Italy, together with France, Ireland – There are other countries – we can build a blocking minority ” – he noted.
Risk of losses for farmers
He reminded that a few weeks ago in the adopted position the government expressed an objection to this contract. He pointed out that it is about the safety of Polish and European consumers and about the care of Polish and European farmers, to protect the European market against the uncontrolled influx of products from South America, which “are not specified in their quality, their production standards are not so Stripping, as in the European Union. ” According to the deputy prime minister, Polish farmers would lose. “It is simply unacceptable. We are against” – emphasized Kosiniak -Kamysz.
EU and Mercosur, in which they include Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay, In June 2019, after 20 years of talks, they agreed to create a free trade zone for 700 million people. So far, however, the contract has not been ratified. The agreement is to open the markets of South American countries to European technologies. The EC also counts on the fact that from these countries it will be possible to obtain raw materials necessary to produce clean technologies, including batteries.
Too much liberalization of customs duties
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Jacek Czerniak said earlier that the impact of this agreement on the animal production sector in the EU, including Poland, would consist primarily of the economic effects of the proposed reduction or abolition of duties in mutual trade. It is about too much liberalization of customs duties, mainly for poultry and beef meat, in access to the EU market; They are to be limited to the size of imports under the tariff contingents established in the contract. He also said that in order to block the contract, it is necessary to create a blocking minority, i.e. the creation of a coalition consisting of a minimum of four countries representing 35 percent. EU population.
Formal request of the Commission to European Parliament and the EU Council and the contract is to be submitted only not earlier than in mid-2025. Until then, the text is to be subject to linguistic and legal verification carried out by the Commission.
At the end of November 2024, opposition to the planned European Union agreements with Mercosuru countries, negotiated in its current shape, the Polish government expressed. He indicated that it does not take into account the interests of the Polish agricultural sector. The Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on this matter. (PAP)
