Source: European Parliament
The Commission requested a Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA)[1], an independent report published on 29 March 2021 that analyses in detail the economic, social, environmental and human rights impacts of the agreement with the Mercosur.
According to the report, the agreement will have a positive impact on the economies of both the EU and the Mercosur countries, raising wages and contributing to a reduction in inequalities. At the same time, the impact on sensitive agri-food sectors in the EU would be limited.
Moreover, the Commission has recently carried out an assessment on the cumulative impact of upcoming trade agreements[2], which produces results consistent with the Mercosur SIA.
It projects a reduction of EU beef production and price of 0.9% and 2.4% respectively due to the implementation of the ten free trade agreements covered by the study. These two studies deliver results at EU level.
On the other hand, the Irish government requested an independent Economic and Sustainability Impact Assessment for Ireland of the EU-Mercosur Trade agreement, which includes the assessment of an impact of the agreement on Irish beef producers[3].
That study finds that small additional beef quantities are expected to come from the Mercosur due to the agreement, but the amount will be limited and is manageable. For the Irish beef sector, an upper end estimate of the impact on production is a 0.08% reduction in output.
- [1] https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/analysis-and-assessment/sustainability-impact-assessments_en
- [2] https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC135540
- [3] https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/1c8a6-economic-and-sustainability-impact-assessment-for-ireland-of-the-eu-mercosur-trade-agreement/