Leading Italian agricultural consortiums Coldiretti and Filiera Italia have issued a joint declaration calling for stringent regulatory alignment in international trade agreements. The organizations, representing farmers, agri-food producers, and distribution networks, assert that all producers exporting to the European Union must adhere to identical standards imposed on EU-based operators.
This principle of regulatory reciprocity should form the cornerstone of all trade agreements and apply comprehensively to all imported agricultural and food products. The central objective is to prevent the entry into EU markets of “food items manufactured using substances and techniques long prohibited within European agricultural practices.”
The consortiums have dismissed the European Commission’s recent proposal to enhance border controls as fundamentally inadequate. While the Commission suggested strengthening inspection protocols last Wednesday to facilitate an impending trade agreement, the proposed measures would only increase examination rates from approximately 3% to merely 4% of incoming goods. This marginal improvement, according to the organizations, continues to pose significant threats to consumer health and fails to ensure compliance with production standards mandatory for European farmers.
Furthermore, Coldiretti and Filiera Italia have renewed their campaign to establish Rome as the headquarters for the European Customs Authority, citing Italy’s exemplary record in food safety enforcement across the bloc. They have simultaneously urged the Italian government to implement immediate 100% controls on food imports originating from Mercosur nations and other high-risk regions, advocating for complete regulatory reciprocity with European standards to ensure absolute protection of citizen health.