EU implements 'emergency brake' on too cheap and excessive imports from Mercosur countries

Because of the trade agreement, certain EU tariffs on products from the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay) and vice versa will disappear. However, the European Parliament wants to provide extra protection for farmers in the EU. This is now being done with a law that allows the advantageous tariffs on agricultural products from Mercosur to be temporarily suspended if the EU market is strongly affected.

The European Commission will be able to intervene if the import of certain agricultural products increases by five percent based on a three-year average. An investigation will take place if imports increase by five percent and import prices are more than five percent lower than those of farmers in the EU.

This concerns, among other products, poultry, beef, eggs, citrus fruits, and sugar from the Mercosur countries. EU countries can also request an investigation themselves. The same applies to individuals, companies, or the sector. Every six months, the European Commission must present a report to the Parliament about imports of products from Mercosur. 

The EU and Mercosur have negotiated a trade agreement for years. It was recently finalized but still needs to be approved by the European Parliament. The same applies for a partnership agreement. However, first the Parliament wants the European Court of Justice to assess the compatibility of the agreements with the EU treaties.

In the meantime, the European Parliament cannot ratify the agreements. The European Commission can apply the agreement 'provisionally.' This is possible as soon as at least one of the four Mercosur countries has completed ratification. There is no clarity yet on this, but it is being taken into account.

According to Dutch MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen (SGP/ECR), ‘it is good that there is an emergency brake for our farmers, but this should not be seen as a green light for the Mercosur agreement.’

Dutch MEP Jessika van Leeuwen (BBB/EPP) immediately called for an ‘emergency brake’ on the import of eggs from Ukraine. Last year, Ukraine exported more than 85,000 tons of consumption eggs to the EU, an explosive increase of over 550% in volume compared to 2022.