France wants to use its six-monthly presidency of the Council of the EU to tighten controls on agricultural imports from the continent by gradually imposing the same health and environmental standards on them as in Europe, French Minister Julien Denormandie said on Monday.
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"This reciprocity of standards is absolutely necessary"
to achieve the
"agro-ecological transition"
without being exposed to unfair competition, he declared, after a meeting in Brussels of European Ministers of Agriculture. .
“It is the very sustainability of our own producers which is called into question, and therefore (…) our food sovereignty”
, argued Julien Denormandie. He judged that the EU had
“room for maneuver to significantly strengthen this reciprocity”
.
Assuming since the beginning of January the six-monthly presidency of the Councils of Ministers of the Union, France intends to build a
"political momentum"
to translate this objective into European trade policies, and is aiming for the adoption of conclusions to this effect by the Twenty-Seven . Julien Denormandie wants to actively promote the inclusion in European trade treaties of
"mirror clauses"
ensuring the convergence of standards on both sides after signature. This is
"a real expectation of the Member States"
, according to him.
At the same time, Paris wants to speed up negotiations on the adoption of a mechanism aimed at banning the import into the EU of agricultural materials that have contributed to deforestation in their countries of production, following a proposal from the European Commission unveiled mid-November.
Reciprocity of standards
Finally, France wants to include in the upcoming revision of a European law on phytosanitary products
"a section on maximum residue limits"
, so as to
"better protect consumers"
of imported products... but also to harmonize closely agricultural practices across the EU, still plagued by regulatory differences. Julien Denormandie acknowledged that among the Twenty-Seven there were varied positions supporting
"different degrees of implementation of this reciprocity of standards"
, while considering that the very principle makes consensus and that
"new coalitions coming to power , especially in Germany, are probably more open than in the past”
.
In the spring of 2021, the Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament failed to agree to include this reciprocity requirement in the legislative texts on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
MEPs wanted in particular to ban the import of products with traces of pesticides banned by Brussels for environmental reasons, but some states were worried about contravening the rules of the World Trade Organization.
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In addition, France wants to intensify discussions between European ministers on
"low-carbon agriculture"
, the subject of a Commission legislative project expected at the end of 2022. The idea would be to reconcile the environmental objective of CO2 sequestration in soil or forests and
“the creation of economic value, in particular through the issuance of agricultural or forestry carbon credits
”, explained Julien Denormandie.
