The ” great quality “, the ” flavor », the « compliance with standards »: we are not at the table of the jurors of the General Agricultural Competition who, in a few months will be salivating over a Limousine sirloin, the featured breed of the next Agricultural Show. These praises are those expressed this week by Carrefour against Brazilian beef. Beware of dysphagia. A few days earlier, the distributor had nevertheless committed to “ not market any meat from Mercosur “. Reason: “ risk of spillover onto the French market of meat production not respecting its requirements and standards ».
A good point for CSR, less for shareholders
The exit of Carrefour's CEO had the effect of triggering the threat of a boycott in the brand's Brazilian stores, which generate a quarter (23%) of its turnover. The dumpling. Hence the regurgitation of the distributor, who is making himself the great white knight of tricolor red meat (which personally I like blue), by claiming 96% of French origin, inviting in passing home catering to join his “ engagement », it does not eat bread (French). A tricolor meat without the aftertaste of anabolics but perhaps not without that of tranquilizers, of those that breeders may be inclined to swallow, bullied as they are by the oligopoly of mass distribution, bordering on the spoliation of producers, against a backdrop of sluggish public authorities reluctant to enforce their own laws.
Political and union harmony
In any case, this is what the senators denounced a few days ago in a report from the Egalim law monitoring group. On the Mercosur front, the same senators this week gave the government permission to oppose the proposed free trade agreement. in the state », following in the footsteps of the deputies. A rare moment of national harmony in these politically uncertain times, to which is added an even rarer union consensus, which should nevertheless be qualified between a Peasant Confederation which is consubstantially opposed to such agreements but which is overtaken by its right by the JA , the FNSEA and the CR, which do not refrain from “ trade » through mirror clauses and safeguard clauses. In this debate which could end very soon, with the Mercosur meeting in Montevideo (Uruguay), a dissonant voice and not the least has been invited, in the person of a former director of the WTO, the Frenchman Pascal Lamy , describing the proposed free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur countries as “ correct for French agriculture “. Beware of dysphagia (bis).
Waiting for Trump
The WTO precisely, this moribund organization to which the next tenant of the White House could deal the blow, against a backdrop of all-out trade wars. The US president-elect recently described the tariff as “ most beautiful word in the dictionary », posing the threat of a tax of 10 to 20% on European products entering the United States. During his electoral campaign, the carnivore Donald Trump became a teammate of a famous fast-food brand, distributing fries and making burgers, blue-white-red burgers, it goes without saying like the colors of the banner. American, adorned with 50 small white stars. Not Michelins. Ones that could well ring the whole world from January 20.
