Michel Barnier, who is already struggling to complete the 2025 budget, could very soon find himself facing another politically explosive issue: the agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia), which has to has poisoned French political life for more than twenty years, could end very soon.
While from the National Rally to France Insoumise (LFI), almost all French political parties are opposed and the agricultural world is preparing, once again, to take to the streets, the Prime Minister has clearly seen the danger.
This is one of the reasons for the former European Commissioner’s trip to Brussels on Wednesday, November 13, where he will meet with several officials from the Commission, which negotiates trade agreements on behalf of the Twenty-Seven. In particular, in the afternoon he will meet with President Ursula von der Leyen there. “The Prime Minister [lui] remembers his total opposition to the agreement [UE-Mercosur] »Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said on Tuesday. That same day, more than 600 French parliamentarians – deputies, senators and MEPs – alerted, in a letter, Ursula von der Leyen of “the democratic explosion” that “would generate” such agreement “in our country, which is already under the political threat of anti-European populism”.
Agricultural unions are also increasing pressure, raising the prospect of the signing of a free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur, as well as seeing the United States and China impose excessive taxes on some of their agri-food imports. Since the beginning of October, sporadic actions have been organized. This week they have been more numerous and are expected to intensify in the coming days.
icy relationships
After the demonstrations at the beginning of the year, the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA) asked its troops for strong mobilization “since mid-November”. The Rural Coordination promises, for its part, “an agricultural revolt” starting November 19. As for the Peasant Confederation, heir to the anti-globalization struggles, it is also planning actions.
Ursula von der Leyen, with whom Michel Barnier, when he was negotiator of the post-Brexit agreements, maintained cold relations, knows her visitor’s concerns. But among those around her, we cannot imagine her willing to give up, for the sake of the beautiful eyes of Paris, an agreement that she has been asking for for a long time.
You have 64.8% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
