Spanish farmers protested on Monday against the recently agreed agreement between the EU and Mercosur in the capital Madrid, expressing concern that the deal will have a significant impact not only on local farmers but others across Europe.
At the call of the Asaja and COAG unions, farmers gathered outside the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to protest against the agreement between the EU and Mercosur, a Latin American bloc that includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia.
The unions expressed concern that the agreement would lead to inequality of opportunity in the Spanish sector.
Farmers said the cost of production in Mercosur countries is much lower than in Spain and importing produce could have a significant impact on both Spanish and European farmers. The deal would lead to irreparable losses in Spain and the closure of businesses, the unions said.
On December 6, the EU and the four Mercosur countries reached a political agreement on a “ground-breaking” partnership deal aimed at increasing bilateral trade and investment while reducing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises.
In 2019, the EU and Mercosur signed a trade agreement after 20 years of negotiations, but the deal was frozen as the increased logging of the Amazon forest under former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro went against the position of EU countries.
In early December 2023, the countries of the South American Common Market agreed at the end of a summit in Rio de Janeiro to continue negotiations on a free trade agreement with the EU. The Polish government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, opposed the signing of the document in its current form. French President Emmanuel Macron also said that Paris would not sign the Mercosur pact in its current version.
European farmers have also opposed the signing of the EU-Mercosur agreement, and have organised protests in various countries, including blocking roads and state institutions with tractors. Protests took place in cities in France, Belgium, Poland and Lithuania, among others. Farmers and agricultural associations predict that the signing of the agreement will lead to dumping, prices will go down, but this does not mean that consumers will get a quality and familiar product.
Mercosur is the largest trade and economic association in South America, founded by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Their combined territory accounts for more than 70% of the area of South America, and their population reaches 295 million people.
