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Parlement européen: Réponse écrite à la question E-004033/2019 : Mercosur, animal welfare and climate change objectives

By April 1, 2020April 17th, 2020No Comments

Document type: Written answer from the European Commission

Authors: Question: Harald Vilimsky. Answer: Mr Hogan on behalf of the European Commission    

Question: The Mercosur Agreement entails some difficulties for EU Member States. In particular, no importance whatsoever is attached to animal welfare in the Mercosur countries, and it barely exists. The rules on this date from the 1930s.

1 How will the Commission ensure that the EU’s minimum animal welfare standards are adhered to in those countries if it cannot even achieve this in the case of animal transport inside and outside the EU?

2 Imports of poultry have fallen due to the food scandals in Brazil. Does the Commission really believe that these scandals will no longer occur in the future, and if so, what action will it take if they nonetheless do?

3 It is feared that this agreement relegates climate protection to the background. How will the Commission ensure that its climate goals continue to be achieved?

Answer: Meat to be imported from third countries must be certified as deriving from animals which have been handled in the slaughterhouse and at the time of slaughter in accordance with the relevant EU legislation. The Commission carries out audits in third countries to verify that these conditions are met.

The EU and Mercosur negotiated provisions to further enhance cooperation on animal welfare in the framework of the agreement. The Dialogues chapter of the agreement sets out conditions for a dialogue, in a long-term process of enhancing animal welfare conditions internationally — including via specific working groups.

Products subjected to Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) requirements, including poultry meat have to comply with the EU SPS import requirements to enter in the EU. In the case of the meat fraud scandal, the different measures put in place show the firm commitment of the Commission to keep the Brazilian situation under strict scrutiny with the readiness to adopt any further measure to ensure the health protection of EU citizens.

The Commission will continue adopting any measure that proves necessary to protect the health of the EU consumers.

The Trade and Sustainable Development chapter of the agreement includes binding commitments on the effective implementation of multilateral environmental agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, under which Brazil has made substantive pledges. Once the agreement is in force, it will be an additional instrument for further engagement and ways of dialogue, implementation monitoring and joint cooperation, including on climate matters.

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