The Senate voted this Wednesday, November 27, almost unanimously against the Mercosur treaty. The National Assembly also opposed it this Tuesday.
Like the National Assembly the day before, the Senate validated on Wednesday the government's position on the draft free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur, which Paris rejects “as is” in the name of defending French farmers.
A rare subject of consensus within the political class, this opposition to the Mercosur treaty in its version negotiated by Brussels was voted almost unanimously in the upper house, by 338 votes out of a total of 348 senators. The day before, the deputies had done the same by a large majority, with the notable exception of the LFI group which demanded the outright abandonment of this draft agreement.
This double mandate of Parliament “is a strong message which will be heard” in other European countries, welcomed the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, for whom “the dynamic is going in our direction” with the rallying Thursday of Poland, another great agricultural power on the continent.
“We must continue to negotiate”
“France does not want the end of trade agreements, nor the end of agricultural trade”, but calls for “serious guarantees for [les] farmers”, who would otherwise find themselves “faced with unbearable competition”, underlined the Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard.
Demand relayed by the boss of senators LR Mathieu Darnaud, opposed to “an agreement which gives a premium to unfair competition in our markets” and judging “inconceivable that this agreement comes into force against the will of France”.
“We must continue to negotiate” to obtain “the essential mirror clauses” in health and environmental matters, said the head of the small Macronist group François Patriat.
On the contrary, the socialist Didier Marie asked for “a moratorium on all current trade agreements”, and the rejection of Mercosur because “there cannot be a deal between junk food and nice cars”.
Faced with this “dinosaur agreement” under discussion for a quarter of a century, “France's opposition will undoubtedly be a democratic explosion,” predicted environmentalist Yannick Jadot.
