European farmers kick off protests against EU-Mercosur trade deal

Paris | Reuters — European farmers started protests against the EU-Mercosur free trade deal on Wednesday, saying increased South American imports will hurt the European Union’s agriculture, and the largest French farm union called for nationwide actions from Monday.

About 100 farmers gathered near the EU headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday with one tractor carrying a banner saying “STOP EU-Mercosur”, and claiming the deal would be bad for farmers, the environment and social rights.

In France – Europe’s largest agricultural producer – farmers dumped manure in the eastern town of Chaumont.

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Brazil has been pushing to have the EU-Mercosur agreement signed by the end of the month while it holds the presidency of the G20, while France is trying to convince other EU members to form a minority bloc against the deal.

“This trade agreement, which links part of the South American states to Europe, risks having dramatic consequences for agriculture,” FNSEA Chairman Arnaud Rousseau told France Inter radio.

“So we will be in all regions from Monday, for a few days, to make the voice of France heard at the time of the G20 in Brazil,” he added, referring to the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro from Nov. 18 to 19.

Weather-hit harvests and outbreaks of livestock disease along with political deadlock after a snap election at the start of summer have added to the grievances of French farmers.

Rousseau said French farmers do not intend to block roads and highways as they had done last year when anger at competition from cheaper imports, including from EU ally Ukraine, and a regulatory burden had led to large protests across the EU.

“We are not here to bother the French people,” he said.

Farmers say the agreement with the bloc that includes Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay will create unfair competition for EU farmers and food makers as it will allow large imports of products that are not bound by the same strict regulation they face in the EU.

“As it stands this agreement jeopardizes fair trade and the future of millions of French producers and the agri-food chain that depends on them,” Jean-François Guihard, head of Livestock and Meat Association Interbev, told reporters on Wednesday.

The EU-Mercosur deal would allow the entry of an additional 99,000 tons of beef, 190,000 tons of sugar, 180,000 tons poultry meat, 1 million tons of maize, producers said.

— Additional reporting by Phil Blenkinsop in Brussels and Sudip Kar-Gupta in Paris