EU lawmakers seek to tighten controls on Mercosur farm imports

By Philip ‌Blenkinsop

STRASBOURG, Dec 16 (Reuters) - EU lawmakers backed on Tuesday tighter controls on ‍imports ‌of agricultural products resulting from a potential trade agreement with South American ⁠bloc Mercosur, potentially meeting the ‌complaints of critics of the deal.

The vote comes a day after France teamed up with Italy to push for a vote on the deal to be delayed. European ⁠Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had intended to fly to Brazil on Saturday to ​sign the agreement, but this requires backing by EU ‌members.

The European Union and the ⁠bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay reached agreement last December to create the EU's largest ever trade accord, some 25 years after ​negotiations were launched.

The European Commission presented the accord for approval in September and sought to soften opposition by adding a mechanism that would allow Mercosur preferential access for some farm products, such as beef, poultry and ​sugar, ‍to be suspended.

It said the ​trigger for launching an investigation should be if the import volumes rose by more than 10% per year or prices fell by that amount in one or more EU members.

However, the European Parliament voted on Tuesday for a lower trigger level of 5%, compared with a three-year average of ⁠imports, as well as for shorter investigations to introduce safeguards sooner. They also want safeguards to apply if ​Mercosur farm imports do not comply with EU production standards, something France has demanded.

The changes mean representatives from the parliament will have to negotiate a compromise with counterparts from the Council, the ‌grouping of EU governments, which had backed the 10% figure. These are expected to start as early as Wednesday.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)