Poland opposes the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement with South American countries in its current form, the country’s prime minister said on Tuesday, joining France in opposing an agreement that European farmers say would expose them to unfair competition.
The contours of the agreement with the Mercosur bloc were agreed in 2019, but some EU countries have blocked its further development because of competition concerns. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting:
“Poland will not accept… the free trade agreement with the South American countries, that is, the Mercosur bloc, in this form.”
His pro-European government passed a resolution against the current draft agreement with Mercosur, citing “concern for Polish farmers and food security” as the main reason.
Brazil is pushing for the EU-Mercosur agreement to be signed by the end of the month while it holds the G20 presidency. Supporters of the agreement, including the EU’s biggest economy Germany, say it will open more markets for their exports.
Farmers say the agreement with the Mercosur bloc, which includes Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, would create unfair competition for EU farmers and food producers because it would allow them to import a large volume of products not subject to the same strict regulation they face in the EU.
France is seeking to form a blocking minority against the deal – a union that would require at least four member states to succeed under EU rules.
Poland’s deputy prime minister said Warsaw, which was visited by France’s agriculture minister on Friday, had already joined Paris in that effort.
Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters, “Diplomatic actions are under way to build a minority that will block” the agreement from coming into force. “Our main ally is France, but … we are counting on other countries as well,” he added, saying that a blocking minority “can be created, although of course it will not be easy.”
EU market squeeze
Poland’s development minister said he would meet his French counterpart next week to discuss efforts to block ratification of the Mercosur agreement.
French Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard told the French parliament on Tuesday that Paris would “fully” and “strongly” oppose the Mercosur agreement “as envisaged by the European Commission.”
Polish farmers blocked the Medyka border crossing with Ukraine to protest against the deal on Saturday. It came after major protests in France and Brussels.
In 2022, the EU allowed Kyiv to supply food to the association countries duty-free, which hit farmers in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and some other countries. These countries unilaterally imposed an embargo on grain supplies from Ukraine to their domestic markets.
French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his opposition to the Mercosur agreement proposed during a visit to Argentina this month. France, the EU’s biggest agricultural producer, is trying to persuade other EU members to form a minority bloc against the deal.
Producers say the EU-Mercosur deal would allow an additional 99,000 tonnes of beef, 190,000 tonnes of sugar, 180,000 tonnes of poultry, and 1 million tonnes of corn to be imported.
Spanish farmers are also against
Representatives of Spain’s main farming organisations fear the EU market will be flooded by cheaper agri-products from South America, which they say do not meet the health and environmental standards of a united Europe. The government says it does not want the EU to “live in isolation.”
“I think there is a certain mythology that has developed around Mercosur, which I think does not reflect the content of the agreement and does not correspond to the moment in which we live,” the kingdom’s agriculture minister Luis Planas said in Brussels on Monday, adding that in “such a complex” geopolitical context, Europe “needs” such an agreement.
In response to Spanish farmers’ discontent, the Spanish government and European officials are trying to find a compromise solution that takes into account the interests of all parties. Planas, despite the criticism, stresses the importance of open dialogue and emphasizes that Spain is doing everything possible to protect its farmers at the European level. He notes that the long-term economic benefits of such agreements, which can help increase Spanish exports, must also be taken into account.
Meanwhile, farmer organisations one by one are beginning to join forces, considering mass protests. The appeal to government and civil society is growing stronger: the importance of respecting fair competition and preserving the principles of sustainable development in a global market cannot be ignored. They argue that not only the economic but also the cultural identity of the agricultural sector is under threat.
