Victor Negrescu claims that the PSD will not vote for the EU-Mercosur Agreement without “firm guarantees from the European Commission”

Victor Negrescu, vice-president of the European Parliament, said on Saturday that “the Social Democratic Party cannot vote for the current form of the agreement with Mercosur” if there will not be “firm guarantees” for the “real protection of Romanian and European farmers”.

On Friday, PSD had criticized “the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mandate Romania's representative in COREPER to vote in favor of the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement”, equating it with “an act of betrayal of the interests of Romanian farmers”.

Commenting on the situation, on Saturday, in a post on Facebook, PSD MEP Victor Negrescu said that “the EU-Mercosur agreement generated a lot of emotion in the public space because, unfortunately, there was no real debate in Romanian society regarding Romania's position on this subject”.

Furthermore, he argues that “the lack of transparency regarding the decision-making process deepens mistrust and fuels Euroscepticism”.

“European agriculture, and implicitly the Romanian one, does not only need compensations, but firm guarantees. The problem is not trade itself, but the lack of dialogue, real support and clear and applicable legal mechanisms to protect farmers, especially small and medium ones, when the market is destabilized and to guide them, concretely, towards accessing these new markets”, declared Victor Negrescu.

The official points out that “European farmers cannot be asked to comply with strict and expensive environmental, food safety, pesticide use and animal welfare standards” while “imports that do not follow the same rules” are made.

“We still have time to defend our interests”

As a procedure, Negrescu explained that the EU-Mercosur Agreement is followed by a vote in the European Parliament, a vote in the EU Council and ratification at the level of the member states.

“Therefore, we still have time to defend our interests, to get more for Romanian farmers or even for Romania to change its position if the impact remains negative. In the absence of firm guarantees from the European Commission, the Social Democratic Party cannot vote for the current form of the agreement with Mercosur”, added the PSD MEP.

He claims that “many European social democratic parties will oppose it in the European legislature and in national parliaments” and that there is a “vital” week ahead for efforts to “get further clarification, convince the European executive to add new safeguards and get an additional financial support mechanism for farmers”.

PSD had accused the MAE, led by Oana Țoiu from USR, of “betraying the interests of farmers”

The party led by Sorin Grindeanu sent a statement on Friday in which it “firmly condemns the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mandate Romania's representative in COREPER to vote in favor of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, in the absence of clear clauses guaranteeing that Romanian farmers will be protected from imports from Latin America”.

PSD claims that the decision to vote for the EU-Mercosur Agreement “represents an act of betrayal of the interests of Romanian farmers” and that the PSD Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, has “signaled on several occasions that signing the agreement without these guarantees will strongly affect Romanian agriculture”.

The Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, returned the EU-Mercosur partnership agreement unsigned on December 18, citing the opposition of farmers' associations and a possible disruption of the Romanian market as a result of imports from South American countries, according to a document obtained by HotNews.

On Saturday, AUR accused PSD of playing a “double game” and urged the social-democratic senators to sign a simple motion against Minister Oana Țoiu.

What Nicușor Dan said about the EU-Mercosur Agreement

On Friday, the president of Romania said that our country voted in favor of the trade agreement “after we negotiated, together with other European states, additional elements to protect Romanian and European producers, especially in the agricultural sector.”

“Through this Agreement, which will lead to the creation of one of the largest free trade zones in the world, European countries are increasing their presence in an important commercial region, and Romania will thus have the opportunity to export products exempt from the high customs duties that were applied until now,” said President Nicușor Dan.

The head of state claims to have obtained “a number of important concessions compared to the initial form of the Agreement”.

“Romania will be able to advantageously export products from important sectors such as transport equipment, especially car components, mechanical and electrical appliances and devices, metal products, textile materials. At the same time, the new Agreement will also generate an increase in service exports from Romania to Mercosur and will increase our country's access to critical raw materials,” the president said.