“The arrival of meat from South America will inevitably have an impact on prices and sales prices”: Aude breeders are mobilizing against the EU/Mercosur agreement

As part of a national mobilization this Monday, November 25, the Aude Breeders' Union (Selpa) embarked on a snail operation from Couiza to Carcassonne. Around twenty agricultural machines made the trip to protest against the free trade treaty between the European Union and Mercosur.

Almost a year after the blockade of the Couiza bridge, and therefore its creation, the Aude Breeders' Union (Selpa) organized its first major demonstration. Leaving the Haute Vallée at around 9 a.m. this Monday, November 25, around twenty tractors and livestock trucks drove, slowly, very slowly to Carcassonne.

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The goal: to protest against the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, this free trade zone specific to the countries of South America. And for good reason: breeders are among the first concerned by this agreement, which should allow the five members of Mercosur (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) to benefit from favorable customs duties on the export of meat in the countries Europeans. According to the European Commission itself, “99,000 tonnes of beef” could be imported into Europe.

According to Selpa, Mercosur risks “damaging local, healthy and virtuous breeding”.
M.D. – M.D.

Enough to arouse the anger of breeders, particularly Audeis. “We practice a form of healthy and even virtuous agriculture and breeding. In these countries, animals are raised in conditions that are not even authorized in Franceunderlines Thimoléon Resneau, member of the Selpa office. And they will benefit from facilities that we don't have? Is this the future we want?”

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Breeders are also faced with a lack of veterinarians.
M.D. – M.D.

If Selpa members sell their products “mainly on a local or national scale”the arrival of these new competitors on the market will “necessarily have an impact on prices and sales prices”.

Many sheep and sheep have died in Aude this year, due to two epidemics.
M.D. – M.D.

An economic situation which adds to the difficulties encountered by Aude breeders following the epidemics of Epizootic Haemorrhagic Disease (EMD) and Bluetongue (BFT). “We still have difficulty estimating what the long-term consequences of FCO will bespecifies Thimoléon Resneau. This fever has caused numerous spontaneous abortions in both cows and sheep. And we don’t know what will happen to births this year.”

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Note that a new demonstration is planned for Saturday November 30 in Narbonne and Carcassonne, this time orchestrated by the wine unions.