“During our presidency, we want to begin a revision of the Green Deal to further simplify it,” said the Polish Minister of Agriculture to journalists. Minister Czesław Siekierski stated that the agreement negotiated by the European Commission with the Mercosur bloc of South American countries opens the market too wide for agricultural products from these countries.
Referring to the six-month Polish presidency of the EU which started on January 1, Minister Siekierski added that he also intends to raise issues in Brussels related to EU enlargement and under what conditions (read: the agricultural consequences of Ukraine’s accession to the EU).
The EU and Mercosur, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Uruguay, after more than twenty years of negotiations, agreed to create a free trade zone for 700 million people. However, that agreement has not yet been ratified.
The Polish minister emphasized that Poland—like France and Hungary—has already expressed opposition to the Mercosur treaty. French President Macron says he wants to try to organize a so-called ‘blocking minority’ in Brussels. In that case, at least seven EU countries including two or three large ones must be against it.
Italian Prime Minister Meloni, who was previously very cautious, has recently indicated that Italy will not vote against the treaty if the promised compensation scheme for affected European farmers proves to be sufficient.
Since several EU countries, including Germany, have already expressed support for the treaty, it appears that there is a sufficient qualified majority among the 27 EU countries for the criticized agreement.