Ten months after the agricultural protests at European level which broke out in France and spread to the entire agricultural sector of the Old Continent, tractors are once again taking to the streets of the neighboring country to protest against the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay). An agenda that coincides with the G20 summit which will be held these days in Brazil and whose objective is, finally, to finalize the free trade agreement between the two blocs.
Early on Monday, local media reported tractor movements and protests in major towns in the French countryside, with symbolic demonstrations including the renaming of cities to Brazilian cities. This happened particularly in the department of Cantal, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Generally speaking, the proposals are peaceful and purely symbolic, emphasize local columnists.
In other regions of France it has been announced the so-called “snail operations”in which tractors force traffic to drive very slowlyor the removal of road signs that inform of entry into municipalities.
The cantonal delegate of the country’s main agricultural union (FDSEA) in this region, Benjamin Lescure, assured public television France 3 that “if we accept such things, we will no longer eat meat from Saint-Cernin, we will eat meat from South America. This is unacceptable and it is not possible.”
As the Brazilian ambassador to Spain, Orlando Leite, assured at the time, elEconomista.esthe meat export that will be agreed “is very small, equivalent to one hamburger per European per year, and does not have the capacity to change the forms of European production”.
On Tuesday, among other actions, there will be new blocking action planned at the Boulou motorway tollvery close to the border post with Spain at Perthus (south-east of France).
When on s’??, on seme…@FNSEA @AllaertPro @FRSEAPACA pic.twitter.com/XIaeUUXUY8
—FDSEA du Vaucluse (@fdsea84) November 18, 2024
This Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron met Argentine President Javier Milei and assured that he would not sign the agreement between the two economic blocs “as is” “today”. The French leader reiterated that he did not believe in the document “as negotiated”, which is why he requested the reopening of negotiations.
The president himself reiterated that “there are countries that do not agree” with the current treaty and even Milei himself stated that he was not “satisfied” with the document and that it was not aligned with “the current functioning of Mercosur”.
The French Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genervard, reiterated this morning on France Bleu her “opposition” to the free trade agreement with Mercosur: “I am in contact with my Dutch and Italian counterparts. We are trying to form a minority veto on this agreement, which is not a good agreement.
It is paradoxical that the minister appoints her Italian counterpart since the Italian Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni, assured during the EU-LACAC summit, in July 2023, that his government supported the European Commission’s efforts to definitively close the trade agreement.
Generally speaking, almost all leaders of the major eurozone economies are in agreement to ratify the document and move forward. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who will also be present the G20 summit in Riowill meet his Brazilian counterpart this Tuesday and has always made it clear that his objective was to prevent the death of this treaty.
Last year, Scholz and Lula met in Berlin and Brasilia and after both meetings they reaffirmed the need to complete the agreement.
Likewise, the Spanish government, led by Pedro Sánchez, attached particular importance to this trade agreement during the Spanish presidency of the European Council (from July 1 to December 31), to the point that it aimed to have it signed before to finish it. this presidential term. Finally, this could not be due to the refusal of France and other countries.
The French government remains in its rejection of the agreement and has already declared that it will seek other allies within the union to renegotiate it. On the other hand, the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, met the same day with the President of Brazil, Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva and described the free trade agreement between the two blocs as “an agreement of great economic and strategic importance”, distancing itself from the French leader.
Meanwhile, the French primary sector continues to protest. The president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, assured that “at least for 48 hours there will be actions in 80 departments” out of the 96 in France.
Likewise, the agricultural leader reiterated that the opinion of farmers at the European level is practically unanimous, “even in countries that are favorable to it, such as Spain or Germany”, he reiterated.
The main allegations are based on possible “unfair competition”, because products with phytosanitary conditions prohibited by European legislation would enter the EU, such as the use of hormones for breeding, they claim.
