FEDAGRI – the Algarve Agriculture Federation – has publicly expressed its opposition to the European Union/Mercosur agreement, signed this Saturday, the 17th, considering that it will be “particularly detrimental” to Algarve producers.
As it is being conducted and politically presented, the federation emphasizes, this agreement between the European and South American blocs “represents a serious risk to agricultural income, the survival of family farms, and the sustainability of the rural world, with particularly severe impacts on vulnerable regions such as the Algarve.”
The FEDAGRI leadership takes this position “following multiple contacts received from associated farmers and livestock producers,” who have expressed their “displeasure” that the federation has not yet taken a position regarding an agreement that, in their view, “weakens Portuguese agriculture.”
“The growing protest visible in several European countries, widely shared on social media by Portuguese producers, demonstrates that this is not a minor technical issue: it is a political question of economic survival for the European primary sector,” adds FEDAGRI.
Considering that “the essential – and non-neobtainediable – principle for any trade agreement involving agricultural products is effective reciprocity: same rules, same requirements,” Algarve farmers point out that the sector operates in Europe “under demanding sanitary, environmental, labor, and animal welfare standards.”
“Opening the market to products from geographies where such requirements are not fully applied creates, in practice, asymmetrical competition.” dumping “Regulatory factors and downward pressure on production prices,” they state.
According to FEDAGRI, “the Algarve is more exposed,” particularly agriculture and livestock farming, which “face structural constraints that build the potential impact of this agreement particularly detrimental.”
Given the “predominance of family farms and tiny and medium-sized enterprises, with less capacity to absorb market shocks,” the “high contextual costs and logistical limitations,” the water scarcity and climate vulnerability, which already impose restrictions and investments; and the “relevance of extensive and semi-extensive livestock systems, depconcludeent on price stability and land value appreciation,” the federation argues that “trade liberalization without robust guarantees tconcludes to translate into loss of margin, devaluation of local products, and abandonment of production.”
FEDAGRI considers the way the Portuguese Government has received and communicated this process to be “serious,” particularly criticizing the Ministest of Agriculture’s “public posture of enthusiasm and congratulation,” which “cannot assume the role of promoter of an agreement without presenting, beforehand and transparently,” an impact assessment by sector and territory, verifiable guarantees of reciprocity, automatic, rapid and actionable safeguard mechanisms, and the real capacity for inspection, traceability and control of imports.
In conclusion, FEDAGRI demands that Portugal “not support the advancement of the agreement without effective reciprocity,” a national and regional impact assessment “with public disclosure,” “mirror clautilizes, automatic safeguards, and enhanced oversight”; and “formal consultation with regional representative structures,” including the Algarve federation.
The trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur was signed on Saturday in the Paraguayan capital, creating the world’s largest free trade zone after 25 years of neobtainediations.
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