V4 Agri-food Chambers Reject Mercosur Trade Agreement

Vysoke Tatry, December 13 (TASR) - Representatives of the agricultural and food chambers of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) rejected the Mercosur trade agreement during the 86th meeting of V4 agri-food chambers, held in Strbske Pleso on Thursday (December 12) and Friday, stating that the public and politicians need to know the danger that Mercosur poses to public health, announced Slovak Agricultural and Food Chamber (SPPK) spokeswoman Jana Holeciova on Friday. "V4 farmers expect the European Commission to give more consideration to the interests of domestic producers. So far, only the interests of industry dominate. That is why we will demand that governments and European politicians should remove the agri-food chapter from the Mercosur agreement," said SPPK head Andrej Gajdos after the meeting. According to Holeciova, the representatives of the agri-food chambers of the V4 countries don't see this agreement as an opportunity for development, but as a significant risk for European consumers and farmers. A particularly negative impact is anticipated in the beef, poultry, honey and sugar sectors. It's thought that the imported products will not only disadvantage food production in the EU, but the influx of cheap and low-quality food from across the ocean could endanger the health of Europeans and worsen the negative impact on the environment. According to Holeciova, the V4 agri-food authorities are determined to join the protests and organise their own information campaigns in their own countries. One such campaign will be a European citizens' initiative called 'Stop Fake Food, Origin on Label,' which SPPK plans to launch in the new year. Signatures will also be collected in other V4 countries. The initiative aims to collect one million signatures from Europeans. lin/df