The French Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, stressed this Friday that his country will oppose the free trade agreement in all European instances. UE-Mercosur and said that he is seeking an alliance with other countries to impose a veto.
“France will oppose it in all the instances in which it is present, in the Council of Agriculture Ministers, before the European Commission, in the European Council”Barnier said in an interview with the public broadcaster FranceBleu at a time when the European Commission and some EU member states want to move forward with that agreement.
He assured that “France is not alone” in that position and “There are other countries that are with us,” Although he did not give names, beyond Poland, he reiterated that they are trying to “constitute an alliance.”
Its Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard, had announced more than a week ago that her Government was working to form a blocking minority, since France alone could not impose a veto.
Barnier insisted that it is not just about modifying the text that was signed in 2019 after two decades of negotiation, but that “it must be rejected” and said that “it is not acceptable” because it would mean a “unfair competition”.
Above all, because it would allow the arrival to the European Union of “tens of thousands of tons” of beef raised in conditions different from those that European farmers have to comply with, who cannot use hormones.
The French prime minister, who said that he will use all his experience with the European institutions (in addition to having been Foreign Minister, he was a European commissioner and EU negotiator for Brexit), also considered that “The EU must change its trade policy”.
In his opinion, we must abandon these large trade agreements to opt for other sectors and, above all, establish the principle of “reciprocity”.
Asked about how far France will go in its opposition to the EU-Mercosur treaty, the prime minister responded that there is no need to tell things that cannot be done, because France cannot break the rules of the EU’s trade policy, which is led by the European Commission.
He recalled, in this regard, that France and French agriculture benefit from the single market and its rules.
The EU-Mercosur agreement has become the main argument of the new campaign of mobilizations that the French agricultural sector is beginning, and that will materialize in particular starting next week with planned rallies and blockades.
This issue will also be at the center of attention of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who starting this weekend begins a tour in South America that will take him to Brazil, to participate in the G20 summit, and then to Argentina and Chile.
