Spain does not have the necessary majority for, at next Monday’s Council of Ministers of Agriculture, to manage to approve one of the main demands of the field professionals who are demonstrating: that the products imported by the EU are marketed under the same conditions as those occurring in community territory. They are the so-called mirror clauses. The opposition comes from the north.
Among the 18 proposals that the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, presented last week to the main agricultural organizations can be read: “The Spanish Government undertakes to defend in all international forums, and in particular in the EU and the “World Trade Organization (WTO), the principle of reciprocity in the use of phytosanitary products in the production of food imported from third countries”. In other words, “if a phytosanitary product is prohibited in the EU, it must not be used in the production of food that must be imported either”, explained the minister.
Planas said on Thursday that in Europe there is “a problem of unfair competition”. “The farmers are right”, he proclaimed. He also made this known at the meeting with Asaja, COAG and UPA. The problem, he assumed, is that “we don’t have the majority”. Planas has the support of France. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, referred to it during the last few days. But the problem is further north. Countries such as Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and the Baltics do not take kindly to this measure. A senior official of the Spanish Government explains it: “These are countries whose food system is based on cheap food, in accordance with cheap imports”. If the EU ended up imposing mirror clauses on these imports, its food system would be under stress and prices would skyrocket. Agriculture sees it as complicated, therefore, that this measure can go ahead. “There are governments that have a vision more as a net importer and that are not in favor of it”, summarized Planas on Thursday.
Another difficulty added to end up approving the imposition of mirror clauses on products imported from other countries is that the EU would have to open a negotiation within the framework of the WTO to close trade agreements with the countries, said Planas. A complete diplomatic mess, in short, which makes it difficult to demand from Spanish farmers and ranchers.
The Spanish Government has been trying to move strings in Brussels for more than a week, Agriculture sources explain. The first move was made by Minister Planas with two letters to the Commissioner of Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, and to the Belgian Presidency of the Council. These missives were followed by one from Pedro Sánchez sent to the president of the European Commission in which he insisted on the need to act in the face of farmers’ protests in Spanish territory. In addition, an Agriculture team traveled to Brussels to negotiate the flexibility of the CAP.
On Monday, coinciding with the council of ministers in Brussels, the organizations Asaja, COAG and UPA have called a demonstration that will try to collapse Madrid again. Free buses are being organized to attend a protest that will cover the distance between the Ministry of Agriculture and the headquarters of the European Commission office on Paseo de la Castellana. The motto that has been chosen is: “The field demands support, respect and recognition”.
