“It is time for France to demonstrate courage, authority and strength of conviction to defend its agricultural model and its values. We must not sacrifice our agriculture in the name of free trade. France must impose its vision and categorically refuse this Mercosur agreement! » This is how Sandrine Le Feur, Macronist deputy for the fourth constituency of Finistère (Morlaix) and president of the Sustainable Development and Regional Planning commission concluded her speech this Tuesday during the debate on the free trade treaty. -exchange with Mercosur countries, at the National Assembly. A debate followed by a vote – Sandrine Le Feur has announced that she will vote against – the aim of which is above all symbolic and which should make it possible to show the European institutions the unanimity of the French political class against this treaty.
“This agreement is dangerous”
In her speech, the Finistère MP, who is an organic farmer, asked: “How can we consider opening our markets to these imports? How can we accept that French farmers, who do everything they can to limit their ecological footprint, who engage in environmental certification processes, who respect an extremely strict normative framework to guarantee the food security of Europeans, who face pressure immense economy, should also suffer from unfair competition from products resulting from production models harmful to the planet? »
Food is not a good like any other. We cannot treat food the same way as the automobile or mining industries under free trade.
The parliamentarian added: “I say it clearly: this agreement is dangerous, not only for our environment but also for our health”, because “these agricultural products respect neither our food safety standards nor our ecological standards”, and this while, according to her, “the (European) Union will not be able to control the quality of imported products”.
For Sandrine Le Feur, “food is not a good like any other. We cannot treat food the same way as the automobile or mining industries under free trade.”
Obtain the obligation of the vote of parliaments
To plead, if the EU confirms its wish to ratify this treaty, for the text to be “well presented in its full, commercial and association version, without compromise, without division”. The goal? Obtain a version of the text which requires a unanimous vote of the 27 heads of state (and therefore possibility of veto) and a vote of all the national or regional parliaments of the EU. “At that time, we will be ready to vote to oppose, with strength and determination, an agreement that tramples on our values and reneges on our commitments.”
France
