EU reaches initial agreement on tighter EU-Mercosur safeguards

By Philip ‌Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The European Union struck a provisional deal on ‍Wednesday ‌to set tighter controls on imports of farm products resulting from a ⁠planned trade agreement with South American ‌bloc Mercosur, potentially meeting some complaints of critics of the deal.

The EU and the bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay concluded negotiations last December to create the ⁠EU's largest ever trade accord in terms of tariff cuts, some 25 years after negotiations were ​launched.

The deal has proven contentious. Countries led by France ‌and Italy have said they ⁠are not ready to back the trade deal and have demanded additional measures to protect their farmers.

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. 

Negotiations started late on Wednesday on a compromise between representatives from the ⁠parliament and  counterparts from the Council, the grouping of EU governments. 

In the end, they decided that 8% should ​be the trigger, the Danish presidency of the EU said.

They also agreed a declaration spelling out EU measures to carry out checks, including in Mercosur countries, to support farmers and to insist that ‌production standards such as on pesticides and animal health will be met.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Inti Landauro, editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Nick Zieminski)