Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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6. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the recent engagements that he has had with his European Union counterparts regarding the European Union-Mercosur trade agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46667/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the EU reached political agreement in their trade negotiations with the Mercosur region in June 2019. The Agreement will cement the close political and economic relations between the EU and Mercosur countries and represents a clear commitment from both regions to rules-based international trade.

In 2021, Ireland exported nearly €0.5 billion worth of goods to the Mercosur region. In 2020 – the most recent year for which figures are available – Ireland exported approximately €1 billion worth of services to Mercosur. The independent impact assessment commissioned by my Department, and published last July, concluded that Irish exports to the Mercosur market are expected to be 17% higher in 2035 under the terms of the Agreement.

However, we also have some well-known concerns regarding climate change and the environmental impact of the extensive forest fires we have seen in the Amazon. I have raised these concerns at all political levels, including through my engagement with the Commission and with Trade Minister colleagues in Council.

Specifically, at a meeting of the EU’s Trade Council in Berlin in September 2020, I took the opportunity to remind both the Commission, and my counterparts, that enforceable guarantees which strengthen environmental protections, particularly with regard to the Amazon rainforest and climate action, are a priority for this Government in terms of our assessment of the benefits of the Agreement when it is formally presented for decision. Furthermore, there was a discussion on the EU-Mercosur Agreement at the meeting of EU Trade Ministers in Brussels in May 2021 at which I restated my and our Government's position on these important issues. Following these discussions, I took the opportunity to write to EU Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner Dombrovskis in June 2021 to restate Ireland’s position, as well as to address other Trade Policy matters.

On the basis of these concerns, raised by Ireland and other EU Member States, the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) are engaged with the Mercosur countries on negotiating further enforceable commitments on climate and deforestation.

Finally, both I and officials from my Department and across Government have continued to articulate our clear position regarding this Agreement at the highest level in the EU, including in bilateral conversations with colleague Trade Ministers in the margins of EU Council meetings.