European farmers are launching a new wave of protests against the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement.
About 100 farmers demonstrated outside the EU headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, following a similar protest on Tuesday in Aurillac, in southern France. More farmer protests are expected across Europe in the coming days.
The EU and the Mercosur, also known as the Southern Common Market, reached a free trade agreement in principle in 2019, but final texts have not been finalized, signed, or ratified. Mercosur countries include Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay and several other South American countries. The deal is likely to be reached at the G20 summit in Brazil next week.
Vincent Delobel, a Belgian farmer, said he and other farmers are worried that the free trade deal will bring cheap South American meat products to Europe.
“The farmers in Europe are already struggling with the cost of living, and this will put more pressure on the farming communities,” he told China Daily.
He added that European consumers may not benefit from the lower prices because the money will just go to the processing companies.
Delobel said while the European Commission leaders may not listen to them, he was encouraged by the participation in the protests of environmental and other NGOs.
“On this issue, there is a wide coalition of farmers in Europe,” he said.
Jens Erik, a farmer from Norway, echoed the view. He said small farmers like him would not be able to survive if there was the EU-Mercosur deal. He said the protesters had a chance to convince EU leaders.
“They must listen to us,” he said.
Agustin Reyna, director general of the European Consumer Organisation, said that consumers expect that their groceries meet the same high standards as those produced in the EU, such as on animal welfare, regardless of their origin.
“Sadly, this agreement will boost trade in products, such as meat, that do not meet EU standards on top of hampering efforts to cut the EU’s climate footprint and shift to healthier diets,” he said in a statement.
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier said in Brussels on Wednesday that the EU-Mercosur deal would be “disastrous” for French farmers, adding that it should not be passed against his country’s will.
Barnier made the comment after meeting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.
“On Mercosur, I told the president (von der Leyen) that under the current conditions, this deal is not acceptable for France. It won’t be,” he said. “France’s worries are notably expressed through the disastrous impacts that this agreement would have for entire sectors, like livestock farming,” he said.
Poland is another member state that has expressed reservations about the agreement.
“The Ministry of Agriculture has serious reservations about the outcome of the European Commission’s negotiations with the Mercosur countries,” the Polish ministry said in a statement.
