The Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation (AAC) asked Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on Wednesday, in an open letter, for Romania to oppose the signing of the EU-Mercosur agreement and to align itself with the position of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR).
"We ask you, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, to join the standpoint expressed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and for Romania to oppose the signing of this treaty, which generates significant damage both for our country and for the European agri-food sector, including through the cumulative effect of all trade agreements signed to date, which may lead to a considerable reduction in the number of farmers, the cessation of their activity and the need to reintegrate them into other sectors, with a direct impact on funds allocated for unemployment and financial support for affected families," the AAC document said.
The organisation is calling for the Prime Minister's support and direct involvement in the negotiations taking place these days in Brussels, within the framework of the EU summit, at the level of European decision-making authorities, in order to represent the position of Romanian farmers so that Romania blocks the signing of the treaty, alongside France, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Belgium and Austria, states which have publicly expressed their position on this issue.
European farmers, including those from Romania, will stage protests in Brussels on Thursday, calling for the maintenance of current conditions.
"In the absence of concrete solutions, the difficult situation faced by farmers, which risks being aggravated by the imposition of new constraints and funding cuts, will prompt them to continue protests in Romania as well, in the coming weeks," the Alliance states.
The AAC mentioned that farmers in Romania and across the EU continue to face growing economic and climate pressures, an increasingly unstable global market environment, production prices at 2008 levels and rising expectations linked to the Union's sustainability objectives, which are forcibly increasing production costs by around 40 percent compared with products from non-EU countries.
In this context, the Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation argues that the EU-Mercosur agreement risks imposing additional and disproportionate burdens on those who ensure food security for Romania and Europe.
Farmers and agricultural cooperatives in Romania and the EU are maintaining their position of firm opposition to the conclusion of this agreement. The projected increases in imports of sensitive agricultural products, such as beef, poultry meat, sugar, ethanol, honey and maize, would expose producers in Romania and the EU to intensified competitive pressures, without comparable standards or enforcement mechanisms on the part of Mercosur. This would undermine fair competition conditions and weaken the economic viability of sectors already under pressure, they stress.
The AAC representatives believe that the safeguard regulation proposed by the European Commission does not provide the assurances needed by the EU agricultural community.
The Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation calls for the postponement of the final approval of the Mercosur trade agreement until the implementation of "legitimate protection measures" for European agriculture, in line with the three conditions proposed by France: robust safeguard clauses, equal or mirror production standards for imports and EU farmers and strengthened import controls.
On Tuesday, the French Senate approved a resolution calling on the Paris Government to refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union to block the entry into force of the trade agreement between the European Union and the South American Mercosur bloc, according to EFE agency.
Negotiations on the trade agreement between the EU and the four Mercosur member states, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, have been ongoing since 1999. These talks, conducted by the European Commission on behalf of EU member states, were concluded with a draft agreement in December last year, despite opposition from several EU countries.
Germany, a country with an economy focused on the export of industrial products, is among those interested in concluding the trade agreement with Mercosur, which would facilitate access for these products to the South American market, an argument also used by the European Commission in support of the deal.
In return, South American agricultural products, which generally benefit from a cost advantage compared with European ones, will be able to enter the EU market more easily under this agreement, a situation that disadvantages European farmers and EU countries with strong agricultural sectors.
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