Brussels is about to sign the trade agreement with the Latin American organization Mercosur in early December, France plans to stop
The trade agreement the European Union wants to strike with the bloc Mercosur from Latin American countries would be “catastrophic” for French farmers, Prime Minister Michel Barnier said in Brussels yesterday, saying it must not be passed against the will of FrancePolitico reported.
Barnier was speaking after a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, who are pushing to conclude a free trade deal that has been a quarter of a century in the making – and which France has staunchly opposed.
“As for Mercosur, I told President von der Leyen that under the current conditions this deal is not acceptable for France,” the conservative prime minister said on the doorstep of the EU’s executive headquarters.
“France’s concerns are expressed in particular through the catastrophic effects that this agreement would have on entire sectors, such as livestock,” Barnier said, highlighting French farmers’ concerns about competition from Brazilian and Argentine beef, which they see as low-quality and inferior. .
The French ones animal breeders plan to stage protests against the Mercosur deal on Monday, when European and South American leaders will be among the participants in the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
President Emmanuel Macron, backed by protesting farmers, stalled progress on a deal back in January, prompting EU leaders to drop the issue from the agenda ahead of European elections in June. But after Macron’s Liberals were defeated in both the EU elections and subsequent national polls, they are once again moving towards the finish line.
As negotiators look to seal the deal at the Mercosur summit in Uruguay in early December, France is looking for allies to help it muster a qualified minority – representing 35 percent of the EU’s population – that would be enough to block it , when it comes to voting among the bloc’s 27 member countries.
Barnier declined to say whether France would be able to muster such a blocking minority or which countries might support it. But, he added, it would be wrong to “bypass a country like France” in the course of the qualified majority vote on the deal.
In a readout of their conversation, Dombrovskis described his conversation with Barnier as “constructive and cordial” and – without elaborating – said they discussed the Mercosur trade agreement.
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