France will not accept it “under current conditions”, assures Barnier

While French farmers display their strong discontent and threaten new actions, France will not accept the European Union-Mercosur free trade agreement “under current conditions”, French Prime Minister Michel Barnier insisted on Wednesday. following a meeting in Brussels with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

“I told the president that, under current conditions, this agreement is not acceptable to France and it will not be,” he told journalists. “I recommend that we do not ignore the position of a country like France,” he added.

The European Union wants to sign it before January

The European Union seems determined to sign this free trade agreement with the Latin American Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia) by the end of the year.

During the Council of Ministers which took place before his departure, “the absolute opposition of the government to a treaty which would endanger our breeders was recalled”, reported the government spokesperson, Maud Bregeon. “This treaty is not acceptable, both for ecological reasons and for the unfair competition it induces,” she added.