Prime Minister Michel Barnier was in Brussels on Wednesday for a meeting with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
At the end of this exchange, he affirmed that France will not accept the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur “under current conditions”.
Paris reaffirms its disagreement. While the conclusion of the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement appears imminent, Prime Minister Michel Barnier reiterated France's opposition to the text “under current conditions”, following a meeting in Brussels with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Wednesday November 13.
Let us not ignore the position of a country like France
Michel Barnier
“I told the president that, under current conditions, this agreement is not acceptable to France and it will not be”he insisted to journalists. “I recommend that we do not ignore the position of a country like France”he warned. Denouncing “the disastrous impact that this agreement would have on entire sectors, particularly agriculture and livestock”Michel Barnier added that there was “the same fears in many European countries”.
Asked about the adjustments that could make the text acceptable to France, he did not go into detail. “It’s not about putting patches or compensating”he simply said. “We are in solidarity with the agricultural world on this issue which is of great concern, and rightly so, which is that of Mercosur”said the French Prime Minister again.
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Farmers, many of whom came from France, demonstrated in Brussels to express their opposition to this text, negotiated for 20 years, but whose conclusion would be close. At the beginning of the week, more than 200 French deputies, from the left and the right, also called in a forum for the government to block the conclusion of this agreement which, according to them, “pulls” European ambition.
France
