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Gorman meets with French ambassador to Ireland on Mercosur
President of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Francie Gorman has met with the ambassador of France to Ireland, Celine Place, to discuss a range of issues, particularly the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement.
Speaking after the meeting, Gorman said that the ambassador indicated to him that France – one of the strongest opponents to the trade deal – remains opposed to it.
“The ambassador assured us that the French remain opposed to a deal that would allow in more imports that do not meet our world-class standards,” he said.
The trade deal would allow 99,000t of beef from those countries enter the EU at a lower tariff rate of 7.5%, which would be gradually reduced to zero over six years.
Gorman said: “Ambassador Place emphasised that [French] President [Emmanuel] Macron continues to voice his opposition to the deal because of the negative implications for European farmers.”
The IFA president said France is an “ally” of Ireland on farming, and that the IFA and its French counterpart, the FNSEA, have worked closely together in the past.
“France has always been a steadfast ally of ours on farming issues. We work closely with FNSEA to secure outcomes that safeguard the family farm,” he said.
Apart from Mercosur, Gorman said that he and Ambassador Place also discussed the uncertainty posed by the tariffs placed on food products from the EU.
He said both he and the ambassador “pledged to keep our issues to the forefront of government thinking”.
The meeting also covered the coming negotiations on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2027.
“We re-affirmed the importance of securing the CAP budget in the first place, and then looking for the distribution of that budget in a way that food production and farmers are supported,” the IFA president said.
“We also raised the issue of live exports and the importance of the lairage facilities in Cherbourg, as well as concerns around the transport regulations for breeding horses,” Gorman said.
Both he and Ambassador Place “pledged to remain in contact and to work together on priority issues”.
