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Midlands-North-West MEP Ciaran Mullooly has called on the European Commission to assess the combined impact of both the proposed EU-Australia trade agreement and the existing UK-Australia trade agreement before granting Australia additional access to the European market. Speaking during today’s meeting of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee in Brussels, Mullooly warned that trade agreements must no longer be considered individually and that policymakers must instead examine their cumulative effect on European agriculture.
“Trade agreements cannot be assessed in isolation. We must examine the cumulative impact on European farmers and on established markets for EU produce,” he told the Committee.
Explaining why the issue is particularly important for Ireland, Mullooly pointed to the significance of the British market for Irish beef exports. “For geographical and logistical reasons, the UK is Ireland’s most important beef market. Our exports to the UK were worth approximately €1.6 billion and accounted for almost half of our total beef exports.” He warned that the existing UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement is already changing the competitive landscape stating that,  “the UK-Australia agreement is progressively increasing duty-free access already for Australian beef, sheep meat, sugar, butter and cheese.”
Mullooly said this could have serious long-term consequences for Irish producers. “This creates a real risk that lower-cost imports will displace Irish and European produce from UK supermarket shelves, maybe not today or tomorrow, but in the future.” The Independent Ireland MEP said the Commission must now consider the combined effect of both agreements rather than assessing each in isolation. “So before granting Australia further access to the EU market, will the Commission assess the combined impact of the EU-Australia and UK-Australia agreements on Irish beef exports, farmgate prices and market share?”
Mullooly warned that European farmers should not be expected to absorb the consequences of two separate trade agreements affecting the same market.
“European farmers must not be expected to pay twice – through increased imports into the EU and by losing valuable export markets into the United Kingdom.”
Mullooly said he will continue pressing the Commission to carry out a comprehensive cumulative impact assessment before any final agreement is concluded, ensuring that the full consequences for Irish family farms and rural communities are properly understood.
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