We will be hitting the road again starting next Monday. On the waves of France Interon the morning of Wednesday, November 13, Arnaud Rousseau, president of the National Federation of Farmers' Unions (FNSEA), called for a national mobilization to protest against the signing of a free trade treaty between the European Union and the Mercosur countries (read below).
A call that the organizations of Indre-et-Loire are preparing to follow.
“If the treaty is signed, France is screwed”
“We are going to prepare this weekend for mobilizations to come next week”promises Frédérique Alexandre, president of the FNSEA 37. If for the moment the ins and outs have not been defined by the union, the latter wants “ to start [son] action from this Friday » on the occasion of the regional Ferme Expo meeting, organized at the Tours exhibition center.
As for other union forces in the department, rallies are also expected. “We are scheduled to mobilize next week”shares Didier Tranchant, president of Rural Coordination 37. “To the Peasant Confederation [de Touraine]there are a few of us who want to mobilize. We will meet again this Thursday in committee to take stock of all of this”confides Frédéric Gervais, co-spokesperson for the union.
If the wind of anger has persisted for several months among farmers, the trigger for these mobilizations concerns the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. The main point of tension raised by farmers concerns meat, which could be imported at low cost from South America, but with breeding standards different from those applied in France.
The FNSEA intends to launch the mobilizations from Monday, November 18, the date on which the G20 summit opens in Brazil (from November 18 to 19), where the trade treaty could be signed.
The elections in the background
An agreement which arouses the anger of farmers in Indre-et-Loire. “Mercosur is meat treated with hormones. We make quality meat with standards and regulations, and on the other hand we bring in anything and everything”is indignant Didier Tranchant of Rural Coordination 37. “If the treaty is signed, France is screwed. We are going to import tons of meat that does not comply with our regulations. It’s cheap meat, which will inevitably be bought”shares Xavier Maupoint, president of Young Farmers 37.
Although all the unions are attacking this treaty, the demonstrations risk not converging. Indeed, the specter of elections to the departmental chambers of agriculture, scheduled for next January, is weighing on the mobilizations.
« The unions will not mingle on the eve of the elections. Everyone counts their points », underlines Didier Tranchant, president of Rural Coordination 37. “The context of the elections plays on the mobilizations”, recognizes Frédéric Gervais, co-spokesperson of the Touraine Peasant Confederation.
For now, farmers are primarily concerned about their own crops. “We prioritize work in the fields, because we had a very bad year. I am not going to force farmers to mobilize”admits Xavier Maupoint, president of Young Farmers 37.
L’accord commercial UE-Mercosur
A project whose discussions began in 1999, this trade agreement would concern the countries of the European Union and those of Mercosur, a free trade zone bringing together Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
This treaty would remove customs duties between the EU and Mercosur.
As a result, South American countries would export many low-cost food products (meat, sugar, rice, soy, etc.), while European nations would market technologies, cars and pharmaceutical products.
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