Rio, March 26, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - The entry of agricultural countries such as Poland into the European Union (EU) should not constitute an additional obstacle to the exportation of agricultural products from Brazil and the Mercosur to the European market. This assessment was made today by the Brazilian Ambassador to France, Sérgio Amaral.

Although acknowledging that the EU will include countries with competing products, Amaral argued that this does not represent a major problem. In the Ambassador's view, the expansion of the European Union will mean that the agricultural subsidies that are currently divided among 15 countries will be divided among 25 countries, so, with the freezing of the budget, each country will receive less.

Translator: David Silberstein