Risky EU duty proposal to MERCOSUR regarding poultry meat
3.10.2017
Question for written answer P-006181-17
to the Commission
Rule 130
Norbert Erdős (PPE)
I am currently hearing rather worrying stories about the negotiations between the EU and South America on the Free Trade Association. According to press reports, the EU plans to offer MERCOSUR extremely generous duty-free quotas. Forecasts suggest that at best, the duty-free import of 70 000 tonnes of beef, 78 000 tonnes of poultry meat, 78 000 tonnes of pork, 600 000 tonnes of maize and 600 000 tonnes of ethanol every year will cause hefty perturbations in the EU market for these products, but there is also a chance that there would be an uncontrollable crisis in the sectors concerned.
In my view, the EU’s proposal concerning poultry meat is particularly risky. In 2016 the EU imported 895 000 tonnes of poultry meat, of which 500 000 tonnes came from Brazil — a quantity which already presents producers in the EU with a formidable challenge. This was exacerbated this year by the Brazilian poultry-meat scandal, which showed that imports from that country in many cases pose a health hazard to the EU.
1. Under the current proposal, what tariff quota is the Commission offering in the case of poultry meat, pork, beef, maize and ethanol?2. How would the Commission ensure that imported poultry meat which does not conform to EU regulations did not enter the EU’s internal market?3. If the large-scale duty-free import of poultry meat causes a market crisis, how will the Commission compensate poultry producers in the EU?