Romania currently does not have the laboratories and equipment necessary to test any pesticides or genetically modified products imported from Mercosur, declared on Monday the Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, during a meeting with farmers from Vrancea County.
According to him, the existing laboratories in Romania are calibrated exclusively for substances permitted in the European Union.
"Since July 2025, I have asked the European Commission, together with my French counterpart, for money for each state regarding the provision of laboratories. Because, at the moment, we do not have the laboratories and kits and markers necessary to identify the pesticides used in Mercosur. At the moment, if we want to test certain agri-food products, all our devices, all our laboratories are calibrated on substances that are included in EU regulations and directives. If a product comes in that uses pesticides from categories 1 and 2, and Romania and the EU use only 3 and 4, and all laboratories are calibrated on 3 and 4. We do not have markers for the other categories, because they are not used at the European Union level," said Florin Barbu.
The minister emphasized that Romania respects strict standards in animal husbandry and animal welfare, which are not applied in other countries.
"In Romania, hormones and certain drugs are not used to raise chickens and beef cattle. That is why we asked the European Commission for two years of transition and the necessary money to equip these laboratories, so that we can protect ourselves, on the one hand, from environmental conditions and, on the other hand, from animal welfare. They have finished with animal welfare for us. We have some conditions for raising chickens and pigs, we have reached one square meter per pig. They do not have these things at the Mercosur level," said the minister.
In the context, he explained that Romania requested additional guarantees and refused to sign the memorandum.
"All these conditions that we requested and when we did not sign the memorandum were not taken into account. But I believe that next week, on Wednesday, this Mercosur will be taken to the Court of Justice of the European Union and, for two years, until the CJEU rules, let's take these measures and guarantees for farmers," declared Barbu.
He also supported the introduction of an import licensing system, warning about the economic impact of the Mercosur agreement.
"We requested that these companies not be approved by the European Commission and that each state license the same model that we approved in the case of Ukraine, which was a success and the other states also took it as a licensing model. Because, if a country that voted for Mercosur, such as Germany, wants to import from the Mercosur area, there should be no more community trade with those products. If you need those products, you consume them on the territory of your country. (...) Mercosur represents nothing but the interests of some economic groups through which they want to bring to countries like Romania, which is at a very high level in the EU from three points of view: in the zootechnical sector - in chicken meat, Romania is a leader at the European Union level -, in the egg sector, Romania is also a leader, in the beef cattle sector we have the largest breeding stock in the EU. And in the last two and a half years, "Romania is the world's leading exporter of cereals. All these things can affect the Romanian economy on the one hand, and on the other hand, you, as farmers," said Florin Barbu.
He warned that Romanian farmers cannot compete under the same conditions as non-EU countries.
"You can't compete in cereal production with Mercosur countries, where they have 2,800 liters per square meter of annual precipitation and use genetically modified corn, with yields of 22-23 tons/hectare. We have very high expenses to reach 12-14 tons per hectare, and 30-35% of the expenses represent energy and water. We cannot be competitive. That is why we must protect our Romanian farmers," concluded the Minister of Agriculture.
Florin Barbu made a working visit to Vrancea on Monday, where he met with farmers from the county and visited a commercial company.
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