Europe trades cars for beef

While Europe is once again accelerating negotiations for an agreement with Mercosur, led by the Spanish and German governments, the French government is raising the alarm along with its cattle breeders and is demanding that it be rejected due to the high impact it could have on its beef production. “Cars for cattle”. This is, in fact, the slogan of the agreement in Germany, where the German interest in opening this window of opportunity is leading its government to agree to any type of concession and sacrifice other sectors such as European beef. To put the figures into context, the proposal for beef would be the entry of 99,000 t of beef in the form of noble cuts from Mercosur, specifically sirloins (which would practically double the volume of this type of cut) free of tariffs in the European market. The terrible thing is that these pieces, according to data from the Institut de l’elevage, already reach the European market at a cost between 18 and 32% lower than that produced in ...