the essential
Farmers are mobilizing again. The FNSEA, the main agricultural union, is launching a call for mobilization throughout France, starting Monday, November 18.
Here are the farmers again on the streets. The FNSEA, the main union in the profession, calls on farmers to national mobilization “from” Monday, November 18. Objective: to defend French agricultural sectors and express its opposition to a possible free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur.
“We will be in all departments, from Monday for a few days, to make the voice of France heard, at the time of the G20 in Brazil,” FNSEA president Arnaud Rousseau said on France Inter. An agreement on Mercosur would have “dramatic consequences” for agriculture, believes Arnaud Rousseau. The agricultural leader wants to “attract the attention of public authorities” and ask for “support”.
No blocking of highways
There is no question this time, unlike the actions at the start of 2024, of blocking the highways. “We are not out to bore the French,” assures the president of the FNSEA. “Our objective is not to blockade France, to starve it. We do not want attacks on property or people. Afterwards, everyone takes their responsibilities.” The FNSEA will detail the planned actions during a press conference in Paris this Wednesday afternoon.
No to Mercosur
If an agreement was signed, it could authorize the absence of customs duties or reduced quotas on the importation into Europe of beef, poultry, corn, sugar or ethanol. The fear of French farmers concerns the conditions of animal breeding in South America and food traceability in Europe against a backdrop of distortion of competition. “Europe must not be a sieve and it cannot import products that do not meet any of our standards,” said Arnaud Rousseau.
The European Union could sign a treaty with the Mercosur countries during the G20 summit, organized in Brazil, on November 18 and 19. This free trade zone, created in 1991, brings together Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay under the common name of “Mercado Común del Sur”.
More than 600 French deputies, senators and MEPs from several political groups sent a letter to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to express their opposition to the proposed European Union-Mercosur treaty.
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