While the Mercosur agreement seems to be reaching its conclusion and the signatures ready to be affixed, French and Lozère farmers are rebelling against an agreement which they consider to be contrary to the values of quality and know-how conveyed by the French sector.
First actions in Lozère
During this first weekend of mobilization, the FDSEA and the JA notably renamed towns in Lozère by the names of Brazilian and Argentinian towns. Monday evening, an FDSEA and JA delegation was received by the prefect of Lozère, Philippe Castanet.
The majority agricultural unions fear in particular that with the signing of the Mercosur agreement, “France's food sovereignty and expectations in terms of national production will be jeopardized”. And demand an immediate halt to all negotiations aimed at concluding the agreement as long as “mirror clauses are not integrated into the agreement in order to guarantee fair rules that respect French social, environmental and health standards”. “We met the prefect Monday evening to talk, obviously, about Mercosur, but also about the subject of predation, which concerns us a lot in Lozère,” detailed Jean-François Maurin, president of the FDSEA. “We wanted to express our real dissatisfaction on this subject.”
After a year of deep crisis suffered by the agricultural profession, “things have not changed”, underlines the president of the FDSEA disillusioned. “We have the impression of not having been heard or understood. We are asking that there be fewer standards and that we can finally make a living from our work with real remuneration. We don’t want this unfair competition.” Recalling that growth hormones have not been used in France since 1988, Jean-François Maurin denounces “the imminent arrival of this meat with hormones. It’s a total aberration, and it’s the consumer who will pay the price,” he warns. A warning issued to alert people about this agreement which could “finish the French agricultural sector”. At the end of the meeting, the FDSEA and JA unions said they were satisfied with the discussions: “the prefect promised to raise our demands in Paris.
A criticized Mercosur agreement
According to the federation of meat breeders of the great central massif, “the European Commission and the Mercosur countries wish to conclude the free trade agreement before Christmas”. A schedule that farmers fear. The EU-Mercosur agreement provides for liberalization of trade between the two economic blocs. A reduction in customs duties which could lead to an increase in imports of South American agricultural products, particularly beef. In 2019, the EU and Mercosur managed to conclude this commercial and political association agreement to establish a free trade zone.
South American breeders could thus export 99,000 tonnes of beef per year at a preferential customs tariff of 7.5%. However, French farmers fear this increased competition, which they consider unfair due to lower production costs and less strict standards in Mercosur countries. Some of these states authorize the use of antibiotics for farm animals and pesticides banned in Europe, while their regulations on animal welfare are less strict than in the EU.
But a recent audit by the European Commission revealed the lack of traceability of Brazilian beef (notably the presence or absence of residues of hormones banned within the EU). The results of the audit resulted in Brazil's immediate suspension of its sales to the EU. Of 23 veterinary drugs containing estradiol beta, 17 are currently authorized in Brazil and none of them carry a label recommending against their use in livestock intended for export to the EU. It is thanks to a reciprocity clause or European mirror clause on growth hormones that the food and veterinary office was able to discover the absence of their traceability in certain products that Brazil exports. By imposing the same health, social and environmental standards on goods exchanged between the two parties, the aim is to ensure fair conditions of competition between breeders.
France
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