ICMSA tell Commissioner that EU has found itself in a “ridiculous public contradiction” on Mercosur

Speaking following a meeting with Maroš Šefčovič, EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Inter-institutional Relations and Transparency this morning in Dublin, the President of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, described as “absolutely ridiculous” the obvious and public contradiction in which the EU Commission has now found itself on the question of environmental standards.

Mr. Drennan said it was not possible for anyone to ignore a situation where the Commission continued to load more and more environmental regulations on its own farmers while simultaneously urging Member States to endorse a deal with a trading bloc in which food production standards and agri environmental considerations were significantly lower – if they were applied at all.  Mr. Drennan said that all the talk about ‘geopolitical focus’ and the ‘need to find new markets’ could not obscure the most basic fact: that Irish and EU farmers were going to continue to have environmental regulations and the associate costs piled up on them, while beef was to be imported from states where environmental considerations were barely acknowledged at all, and certainly not a factor in their farming or food production.

“The plain fact here is that the Mercosur imports will undercut Irish beef in our export markets by being cheaper through their non-observation of production standards and environmental measures. The EU Commission knows this and is, apparently, absolutely fine with it.  So much for Sustainability”, observed Mr. Drennan. 

Mr. Drennan confirmed that he had put this specific point to the Commissioner this morning and, frankly, did not give any credence to their response.

“We are still in the same position where the EU wants to endorse Mercosur, downplay its impact, exaggerate its benefits, allow more beef imports and suggest additional safeguarding measures that they know – and we certainly do – will not work.  ICMSA believes that this is a ‘Make Your Mind Up’ moment for EU Member States: either we go with sustainable farming for all food products sold in the EU and so protect family farms against larger factory-based farms or we don’t and stop loading environmental and sustainability regulations onto EU farmers that puts them in a position where they simply cannot compete against lower standard produce”, he said.

Stating that the EU Commission has found itself in an absolutely ridiculous and obviously contradictory public position, Mr. Drennan said it was no-one’s fault but theirs.

“It’s just this simple; there cannot be one rule for the EU’s own farmers and then none for those allowed – even encouraged – to export food to the EU. Either we all have the same standards and environmental restrictions, or we all go to the lower, much lower, threshold of the Mercosur States. But we can’t have these two contradictory stances by the Commission. It’s not possible to reconcile these and therefore ICMSA thinks that Ireland an others food producing States must continue to signal outright opposition to any endorsement of Mercosur”, concluded Mr. Drennan.

Ends      2 October 2025

Denis Drennan, 086-8389401

President, ICMSA.

Or

Cathal MacCarthy, 087-6168758

ICMSA Press Office