Massive demonstrations of farmers from Ireland and Belgium in favor of the Mercosur-EU agreement

DUBLIN.- Grenadiers and farmers marched this week in Dublin (

Ireland

) and Brussels (

Belgium

) to express his rejection of the

agreement

that the

European Union

(EU) and the
Mercosur has arrived after 20 years of negotiations.

On Wednesday in the Irish capital, thousands of people marched in front of Parliament and packed up old boots at the door with posters saying "They are no longer necessary" (lack of work).

"The big problem we have as farmers is the double talk within the EU," said Hugh Doyle, breeder and co-chair of the
Beef plan movement. "They are imposing environmental restrictions on farmers all over Europe and we have to work in an environmentally friendly way, but they will suddenly reach an agreement with a country that ignores it," he said. about Mercosur.

The fear of South American meat

According to the movement of the beef plan and the
Irish Cattlemen & # 39; s Association (ICSA, for its acronym and English), organizers of Wednesday's event, between 3,000 and 5,000 farmers moved to Dublin from across the country to participate in the protest.

Protesters fear that the new quotas will allow South American meat to flood the European market and this implies a drastic reduction in domestic production. "We are no longer able to live this way and we are now talking about lowering the price of beef by flooding the market with cheap meat from Mercosur," complained Connell Tiernan, a farmer of West of Ireland.

The next day, the Belgian capital was the scene of another demonstration. Grenadiers and farmers moved to the headquarters of the
European Commission in refusal of the agreement concluded with Mercosur. Many hung allusive posters: one said "Mercosur, the death of agriculture".

At the end of June, Mercosur and the European Union completed negotiations for the signature of a
Strategic Partnership Agreement, unprecedented agreement for both blocks. The negotiation process lasted more than 20 years.

The strategic partnership between Mercosur and the European Union will involve the integration of a market of 800 million inhabitants, accounting for nearly a quarter of the world's GDP, and representing more than 100,000 million people. dollars of bilateral trade in goods and services.

Brussels guarantees that the treaty will allow European companies to save more than 4,000 million in customs duties a year, but some agricultural quotas – which include the opening of the EU 's markets. EU to 99 000 tonnes of South American beef a year – led to a rejection and farmers from several EU Member States.

AFP Agency