French farmers have announced a new wave of protests next week against a planned European Union free trade agreement with trade bloc Mercosur, saying increased imports of agricultural products from South America will damage their livelihoods.
It came after farmers in Belgium called for demonstrations near EU headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. Several tractors stopped in the European neighbourhood on Schuman Square opposite the European Commission and EU Council buildings.
Farmers in Belgium, which has fallen on hard times, fear that a pending treaty with the Mercosur organisation, which brings together Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil, could lead to a further decline in sales for European growers “due to unfair competition.” According to Belgian trade unions, the pact, which has been under discussion for years, could be approved during the upcoming G20 meeting on November 18-19 in Brazil.
The rally in Brussels was coordinated by police, who blocked several streets in Brussels, but traffic congestion was avoided.
“Bad agreement”
FNSEA head Arnaud Rousseau told France Inter radio:
This trade agreement, which links part of the South American states to Europe, risks having dramatic consequences for agriculture. So from Monday for a few days we will be in all regions to make sure that France’s voice is heard during the G20 in Brazil, and we hope that all European countries will join us because it’s not about a country, it’s not about France, it’s about Europe.
But French farmers are not going to block roads and motorways as they did last year, when anger at competition from cheaper imports, including from EU ally Ukraine, and the burden of regulation led to large-scale protests across the EU. He also added:
We are not here to worry the French people, we are here to tell them that we are proud to feed them and to continue to produce in France.
On Sunday, the country’s agriculture minister Annie Genevard called the planned free trade deal between South American countries and the EU a “bad agreement” as it would allow “99,000 tonnes of beef, 180,000 tonnes of sugar and the same amount of poultry” into the country and create damaging competition for local producers.
Weather-ravaged harvests and outbreaks of livestock disease, as well as political deadlock following snap elections earlier this summer, have added to French farmers’ discontent.
